CVE-2015-9072
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 · uneditedIn all Qualcomm products with Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, an untrusted pointer dereference can occur in a TrustZone syscall.
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 confidenceAn untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability exists in a TrustZone syscall within Qualcomm's Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) implementation for Android devices using CAF Linux kernel releases. This memory corruption flaw in the secure world could allow attackers to escape TEE isolation and execute arbitrary code with the highest privileges, potentially compromising secure boot and sensitive operations like key storage or biometric authentication.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify device uses Qualcomm chipset with TrustZoneCheck /proc/cpuinfo or device specifications for Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Look for 'Qualcomm' or 'Snapdragon' in hardware identifiers.Affected if Device does not have a Qualcomm processor - the vulnerability only affects Qualcomm TEE implementations
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Confirm TrustZone/TEE is presentCheck for TEE driver files in /sys/class/misc/tzdev or /dev/tz. On some devices, 'getprop ro.hardware' may show 'msm' or 'qcom' prefixes indicating Qualcomm hardware.Affected if Device lacks TrustZone/TEE support - the vulnerability exists specifically within the secure world TEE
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Check TEE OS version if accessibleAttempt to query TEE version via available tools like 'tee-supplicant' or by reading /firmware/image/tzapp.mbn metadata if device has root access. Compare against any known fixed versions from vendor security advisories.Affected if Cannot determine TEE version or version predates the patch - CVE affects all unpatched TEE OS blobs
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Verify security patch levelCheck Android build date or security patch level via Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' and 'getprop ro.build.date.utc'Affected if Security patch level is earlier than the CVE fix date (around mid-2015) or device never received vendor firmware updates
Device is likely affected if it uses a Qualcomm chipset with TrustZone and has not received vendor firmware updates containing the patched TEE OS blob from the 2015 security patch cycle.
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 vendor firmware updates containing patched TrustZone software; this vulnerability is addressed through Qualcomm's monthly security patch process and requires updating the TEE OS blob from the OEM/factory images.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-9072 — 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-2015-9072 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
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