CVE-2014-1979
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe NTT DOCOMO sp mode mail application 5900 through 6300 for Android 4.0.x and 6000 through 6620 for Android 4.1 through 4.4 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Java methods via Deco-mail emoticon POP data in an e-mail message.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe NTT DOCOMO sp mode mail application for Android fails to properly validate Deco-mail emoticon POP data embedded in email messages. This allows remote attackers to inject and execute arbitrary Java methods on the affected device by sending specially crafted emails containing malicious emoticon data.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 6000= 6200= 6620= 5900= 6300CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if sp mode mail app is installedOn the Android device, go to Settings > Apps > All Apps, or use ADB command 'adb shell pm list packages | grep docomo' or 'adb shell pm list packages | grep spmode' to look for the NTT DOCOMO sp mode mail application packageAffected if The application is not installed on the device, the user is not affected by this specific vulnerability
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Check installed application versionIn Settings > Apps > sp mode mail > App info, note the version number shown; alternatively use ADB: 'adb shell dumpsys package <package_name>' to retrieve version infoAffected if The installed version number matches 6000, 6200, 6620, 5900, or 6300 exactly, the device is vulnerable
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Verify Deco-mail emoticon feature is enabledOpen the sp mode mail app, go to Settings > Deco-mail or Settings > Display > Deco-mail settings, check if emoticon functionality is turned on; this feature processes the POP data that contains the vulnerabilityAffected if Deco-mail emoticon feature is enabled and the version is among the affected versions listed, exploitation is possible through specially crafted emails
The user is affected if the NTT DOCOMO sp mode mail Android app is installed with version 6000, 6200, 6620, 5900, or 6300 AND the Deco-mail emoticon feature is enabled.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUsers should update to patched versions of the application once released by NTT DOCOMO. Until a patch is available, avoid opening emails from untrusted senders and consider using alternative email clients as a workaround.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-1979 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-1979 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data