CVE-2015-8888
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 · uneditedInteger overflow in app/aboot/aboot.c in the Qualcomm components in Android before 2016-07-05 on Nexus 5 devices allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via a crafted block count and block size of a sparse header, aka Android internal bug 28822465 and Qualcomm internal bug CR813933.
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 confidenceInteger overflow vulnerability in Qualcomm's aboot bootloader on Nexus 5 devices running Android before July 2016. The overflow occurs in sparse header parsing when calculating memory allocations from crafted block count and block size values, allowing attackers to bypass access restrictions.
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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 is Nexus 5Run 'getprop ro.product.device' or check device model. Nexus 5 identifier is 'hammerhead'.Affected if Device model is not 'hammerhead' (Nexus 5)
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Check Android versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' to get the Android OS version.Affected if Version is 6.0.1 or earlier (versions after 6.0.1 include the patch)
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Verify bootloader versionRun 'fastboot getvar all' or 'getprop ro.bootloader' to check the aboot bootloader version. The vulnerability exists in unpatched aboot versions prior to July 2016.Affected if Bootloader is an older version that has not received the July 2016 security patch
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Check if sparse image handling is usedThis vulnerability affects devices that process sparse image files (commonly used in OTA updates or flashing). No direct user command exists to confirm if this feature is exposed, but the device must be receiving flashed images for exploitation.Affected if Device processes untrusted sparse image data from external sources
A Nexus 5 device running Android 6.0.1 or earlier with an unpatched aboot bootloader is affected if it processes crafted sparse image files.
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 July 2016 Android security patch level or later to affected Nexus 5 devices, which includes the patched Qualcomm bootloader (aboot) addressing the integer overflow in sparse header handling.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 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 $8,192.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-8888 — 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-2015-8888 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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- 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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