CVE-2015-6643
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 · uneditedSetup Wizard in Android 5.x before 5.1.1 LMY49F and 6.0 before 2016-01-01 allows physically proximate attackers to modify settings or bypass a reset protection mechanism via unspecified vectors, aka internal bug 25290269.
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 confidenceThe Android Setup Wizard in versions 5.x before 5.1.1 and 6.0 before January 2016 contains a flaw that allows physically proximate attackers (with temporary physical access to the device) to modify system settings or bypass reset protection mechanisms. This vulnerability enables an attacker to alter device configuration or circumvent anti-theft protections during the setup phase.
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= 5.1.1= 6.0= 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:L/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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Check Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if Version is 5.0, 5.1, 5.1.1, 6.0, or 6.0.1 (versions before 5.1.1 LMY49F for 5.x or before January 2016 update for 6.0)
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Verify Setup Wizard completion statusCheck if the device has completed initial setup: look for the presence of launcher apps, check 'android.intent.action.DEVICE_INITIALIZATION_WIZARD' is not active, or inspect Settings.Secure.USER_SETUP_COMPLETE via 'settings get secure user_setup_complete'Affected if The value is 0 or the Setup Wizard is currently running (device is in first-time setup phase)
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Confirm device is in factory reset or first-boot stateObserve if the device displays the Welcome screen, language selection, or Wi-Fi setup prompts typical of fresh setup; boot to recovery and check /data property or inspect 'ro.setupwizard.mode' via 'getprop ro.setupwizard.mode'Affected if ro.setupwizard.mode returns 'DISABLED' (not completed) or device is at the initial setup screens
Device is affected if it runs Android 5.0-5.1.1 or Android 6.0-6.0.1 and is currently in or has not completed the initial Setup Wizard phase.
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 Android system updates: version 5.1.1 LMY49F or later for Android 5.x devices, and the January 2016 update or later for Android 6.0 devices. Organizations should inventory affected devices and deploy patches through their mobile device management infrastructure.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-6643 — 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-2015-6643 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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