CVE-2014-9798
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 · uneditedplatform/msm_shared/dev_tree.c in the Qualcomm bootloader in Android before 2016-07-05 on Nexus 5 devices does not check the relationship between tags addresses and aboot addresses, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (OS outage) via a crafted application, aka Android internal bug 28821448 and Qualcomm internal bug CR681965.
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 confidenceA validation check is missing in the Qualcomm bootloader's device tree code (platform/msm_shared/dev_tree.c). The bootloader fails to verify the relationship between tags addresses (kernel parameters) and aboot addresses before use. A crafted application can exploit this missing validation to cause a denial of service by corrupting or misdirecting the boot process, resulting in an OS outage.
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<= 6.0.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if Device is running Android 6.0.1 or earlier (the bootloader flaw exists in these versions)
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Check Android security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shellAffected if Patch level is earlier than July 2016 (the fix was released in the July 2016 security update)
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Verify bootloader is Qualcomm-basedRun 'fastboot getvar all' or check for 'aboot' in bootloader info via 'getprop ro.boot.bootloader'Affected if Device uses Qualcomm aboot bootloader - the vulnerability exists in the dev_tree.c component of this bootloader
Device is affected if it runs Android 6.0.1 or earlier with a security patch level before July 2016 and uses a Qualcomm bootloader (aboot), as the missing validation in platform/msm_shared/dev_tree.c was only patched in the July 2016 Android security update.
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 dataUpdate the device to the July 2016 Android security patch level or later, which addresses this bootloader vulnerability in the Qualcomm aboot. This is a firmware-level issue requiring a system update, not a code fix in application-layer software.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,536.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-9798 — 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-2014-9798 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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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.
- 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
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