dbcve.org
AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2014-3164

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-10-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.4.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
cmds/servicemanager/service_manager.c in Android before commit 7d42a3c31ba78a418f9bdde0e0ab951469f321b5 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference, or out-of-bounds write) via vectors related to binder passed lengths.

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 confidence

This is a denial of service vulnerability in Android's service manager (service_manager.c) within the binder inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism. The vulnerability stems from improper validation of lengths passed through binder transactions, which can trigger either NULL pointer dereference or out-of-bounds memory writes, causing system crashes.

MitigationApply the fix from commit 7d42a3c31ba78a418f9bdde0e0ab951469f321b5 by updating Android to a version containing this patch, or implement proper bounds checking on binder transaction length parameters.

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
AndroidOperating system
Affected:<= 4.4.4

CVSS 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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Android version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in adb shell, or go to Settings > About Phone > Build Number
    Affected if The reported version is 4.4.4 or lower (any version up to and including 4.4.4)
  2. Confirm Android build ID
    Run 'getprop ro.build.id' in adb shell to get the exact build identifier
    Affected if The build ID corresponds to Android 4.4.4 or earlier releases (such as KRT16, KRT16M, KRT16S, KOT49H, KOT49E)
  3. Verify binder IPC is in use
    Check if /dev/binder exists by running 'ls -l /dev/binder' in adb shell
    Affected if The device uses the binder IPC mechanism (this is true for all standard Android devices) and the Android version is 4.4.4 or below

The environment is affected if the device runs Android version 4.4.4 or any earlier version, as the vulnerable code in service_manager.c exists in those releases.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.4.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the fix from commit 7d42a3c31ba78a418f9bdde0e0ab951469f321b5 by updating Android to a version containing this patch, or implement proper bounds checking on binder transaction length parameters.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,416.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-3164 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-3164 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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