CVE-2014-9957
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 · uneditedAn elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm closed source components. Product: Android. Versions: Android kernel. Android ID: A-36387564.
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 · moderate confidenceThis is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm's closed-source components that interact with the Android kernel. The flaw allows an unprivileged application to potentially gain elevated (root) access on affected Android devices. Qualcomm's closed-source components typically include GPU drivers, DSP firmware, and other hardware-abstraction layers.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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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Confirm device runs AndroidCheck system property 'ro.build.version.release' or Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if Device is running any Android version (all versions affected)
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Verify Qualcomm chipset presenceCheck /proc/cpuinfo for 'Qualcomm' or 'Snapdragon' in hardware info, or check 'ro.hardware' system propertyAffected if Device uses a Qualcomm chipset (vulnerability exists in Qualcomm closed-source components)
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Check Android security patch levelCheck 'ro.build.version.security_patch' system property or Settings > About Phone > Security patch levelAffected if Security patch level is earlier than January 2016 (fix released in 2016-01 security update)
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Identify vulnerable Qualcomm componentsCheck for presence of /dev/qseecom or /dev/dsp (DSP firmware) devices, which are the affected closed-source componentsAffected if Device has Qualcomm secure execution environment (QSEECOM) or DSP firmware drivers loaded
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Verify SELinux context of Qualcomm servicesRun 'ps -Z | grep -i qualcomm' to check if Qualcomm services run in unconfined or root contextsAffected if Qualcomm daemons run with elevated privileges allowing unprivileged access
A user is affected if their Android device has a Qualcomm chipset and the security patch level is before the January 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 dataApply the latest Android security patches released by Google and device OEMs, as this vulnerability was addressed in downstream Android security updates. Since this affects closed-source Qualcomm components, users must rely on vendor-provided system updates rather than kernel source modifications.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $9,504.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-9957 — 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-2014-9957 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data