AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2015-9062

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, an integer overflow to buffer overflow vulnerability exists when loading an ELF file.

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

Integer overflow in the kernel ELF loader in Qualcomm Android kernel code leads to a buffer overflow when parsing malicious ELF files. This memory corruption vulnerability in kernel mode allows potential arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied Qualcomm CAF kernel patch addressing the ELF loading integer overflow. This is typically delivered through monthly security patch levels from the device OEM.

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 the chipset manufacturer
    Check /proc/cpuinfo or system settings for 'Hardware' or 'model' entries to determine if the device uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset
    Affected if The device uses Qualcomm Snapdragon or other Qualcomm processors
  2. Determine the kernel version
    Run 'uname -r' or check /proc/version to obtain the kernel version string
    Affected if The kernel version is any version released before the vendor patch was applied
  3. Check the Android security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the month the CVE fix was released by the OEM
  4. Verify ELF loading capability is present
    Confirm the kernel supports ELF binary execution - this is standard on Android as apps are packaged as APKs containing DEX but native libraries use ELF
    Affected if The device can execute native code (ELF binaries), which is the default state for most Android devices with native library support

A user is affected if their Android device uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset and has not received the vendor-supplied security patch that addresses this kernel ELF loader integer overflow vulnerability.

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 the vendor-supplied Qualcomm CAF kernel patch addressing the ELF loading integer overflow. This is typically delivered through monthly security patch levels from the device OEM.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,080
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-9062 — 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-2015-9062 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