CVE-2015-8892
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/boot_verifier.c in the Qualcomm components in Android before 2016-07-05 on Nexus 5X and 6P devices allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via a digest with trailing data, aka Android internal bug 28822807 and Qualcomm internal bug CR902998.
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 vulnerability in the boot verifier (boot_verifier.c) in Qualcomm components allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions by providing a digest with trailing data. This affects the verified boot chain on Nexus 5X and 6P devices running Android versions before the July 2016 security patch. The verifier fails to properly validate digest length/format, allowing an attacker to craft a malicious digest that passes verification while containing extra data.
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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Identify device modelRun 'getprop ro.product.model' in ADB shell or check device Settings to confirm the exact modelAffected if Device is Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P (or other Qualcomm-based device with verified boot)
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Check Android versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in ADB shell or check Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if Android version is 6.0.1 or below
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Confirm security patch levelRun 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' in ADB shell to retrieve the applied security patch date (format: YYYY-MM-DD)Affected if Security patch level is before 2016-07-01 or the property is not set
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Verify verified boot statusRun 'getprop ro.boot.verifiedbootstate' in ADB shell to check if verified boot is enabledAffected if Verified boot state is 'green' or 'yellow' and the device meets the criteria in steps 1-3
A device is affected if it is a Nexus 5X or 6P (or similar Qualcomm-based device) running Android 6.0.1 or below without the July 2016 security patch.
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 Android security update from July 2016 or later to affected devices. Organizations should inventory affected Nexus devices and ensure they receive vendor-supplied patches. This is a platform-level fix requiring OTA or firmware update from the device vendor/OEM.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,704.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-8892 — 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-2015-8892 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data