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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2015-1525

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-01-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.1 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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
audio/AudioPolicyManagerBase.cpp in Android before 5.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (audio_policy application outage) via a crafted application that provides a NULL device address.

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 AudioPolicyManagerBase.cpp that exists in versions before 5.1. A malicious or crafted application can pass a NULL device address to the audio policy manager, causing the audio_policy service to crash or become unavailable, resulting in loss of audio functionality.

MitigationUpgrade Android devices to version 5.1 or later to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate updates are not feasible, consider restricting app installation from untrusted sources or implementing application permission controls to limit exposure.

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:< 5.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Check Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone (or About Device) > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if Android version is below 5.1 (e.g., 5.0.x, 4.4.x, 4.3.x, etc.)
  2. Verify audio policy service status
    Run 'dumpsys audio_policy' via ADB shell or check if the audio policy service is listed in 'dumpsys' output
    Affected if The audio_policy service crashes, returns an error, or is unresponsive when queried
  3. Check if unknown sources is enabled
    Go to Settings > Security > Unknown sources (or Settings > Apps > Unknown sources on older versions)
    Affected if Unknown sources installation is enabled, allowing installation of apps outside of the Google Play Store

The device is affected if it runs Android version lower than 5.1 and a malicious application can be installed to trigger the NULL device address crash in the audio_policy service.

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 5.1 or later
Fixed in 5.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Android devices to version 5.1 or later to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate updates are not feasible, consider restricting app installation from untrusted sources or implementing application permission controls to limit exposure.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $6,840
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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-2015-1525 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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