AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2015-9044

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-08-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
In all Qualcomm products with Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, a vulnerability exists in LTE where an assertion can be reached due to an improper bound on the size of a frequency list.

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 confidence

A vulnerability in the LTE component of Qualcomm Android kernel releases from CAF exists where improper bounds checking on a frequency list size allows an assertion to be reached. This could potentially cause a denial of service or be exploitable for code execution due to the assertion failure handling.

MitigationApply Qualcomm/Google security patches for this vulnerability through Android system updates and verify baseband firmware is patched. Until patches are available, minimize exposure by avoiding untrusted LTE networks.

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:all versions

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify if the device uses a Qualcomm LTE chipset
    Check the device specifications or use 'getprop' commands to look at radio properties (e.g., 'getprop ro.baseband', 'getprop gsm.version.baseband')
    Affected if The device uses a Qualcomm baseband/modem chip for LTE connectivity
  2. Determine the baseband firmware version
    Run 'getprop | grep baseband' or check Settings > About Phone > Baseband version to retrieve the installed Qualcomm LTE firmware version
    Affected if The baseband version cannot be verified or falls within an unpatched range
  3. Confirm LTE functionality is enabled
    Check if LTE/4G is actively connected or if the device has LTE capability enabled (Settings > Mobile Networks > Network Mode or similar)
    Affected if LTE is enabled and the device connects to LTE networks
  4. Check if Android system security patches have been applied
    Verify the Android security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Android security patch level. Compare the date to when this CVE was addressed (refer to Qualcomm/Google security bulletins)
    Affected if The device is running an unpatched Android security patch level for this vulnerability
  5. Verify baseband firmware update status
    Contact the device manufacturer or carrier to confirm whether the baseband/modem firmware has been updated to address this Qualcomm LTE vulnerability
    Affected if The baseband firmware is confirmed as unpatched for CVE-2015-9044

A user is affected if their Android device uses a Qualcomm LTE chipset with unpatched baseband firmware and has LTE connectivity enabled.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Qualcomm/Google security patches for this vulnerability through Android system updates and verify baseband firmware is patched. Until patches are available, minimize exposure by avoiding untrusted LTE networks.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-9044 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-9044 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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