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Mdm9625 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2015-9116

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-18
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 Android before 2018-04-05 or earlier security patch level on Qualcomm Snapdragon Automobile and Snapdragon Mobile MDM9625, SD 425, SD 430, SD 450, SD 625, SD 650/52, SD 810, SD 820, and SD 820A, in a QTEE syscall handler, an untrusted pointer dereference can occur.

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 confidence

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment (QTEE) syscall handler on specific Snapdragon processors. An untrusted pointer dereference in the handler allows a malicious local attacker to potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges in the trusted execution environment, which could lead to complete device compromise.

MitigationApply Android security patch level 2018-04-05 or later to affected devices, or update device firmware with the Qualcomm fix.

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
Mdm9625 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 425 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 430 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 450 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 625 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 650 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 652 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 810 FirmwareOperating 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 Qualcomm chipset model
    Check the processor/SoC model on the device (via /proc/cpuinfo, system settings, or device specifications). Look for: Mdm9625, Snapdragon 425, 430, 450, 625, 650, 652, or 810.
    Affected if The device uses any of these listed Qualcomm chipsets.
  2. Verify TEE is present and enabled
    Check if the Trusted Execution Environment is active on the device. On Android, examine /proc/teeinfo, or check for TEE driver nodes in /dev/ (typically /dev/tee0, /dev/teepriv_io). Some devices may show TEE status via 'dmesg | grep -i tee' or 'getprop ro.tee.enabled'.
    Affected if The device has QTEE (Qualcomm TEE) enabled and accessible.
  3. Confirm the firmware variant
    Identify the specific firmware variant for the affected chipset. Check baseband firmware version via 'getprop gsm.version.baseband' or check the bootloader/firmware version through 'getprop' entries like 'ro.build.version.firmware' or /proc/version.
    Affected if The firmware is from the Qualcomm Snapdragon or Mdm9625 family listed as affected.
  4. Check Android security patch level
    On Android devices, run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' to retrieve the installed security patch level.
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than 2018-04-05.

A user is affected if their device uses one of the listed Qualcomm chipsets (Mdm9625, Snapdragon 425/430/450/625/650/652/810), has QTEE enabled, and has not received the 2018-04-05 or later Android security update.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Android security patch level 2018-04-05 or later to affected devices, or update device firmware with the Qualcomm fix.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

April 2018 Android Security Patch Level (or later) from your device OEM

  1. Check your device's current Android security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Android security patch level
  2. If the patch level is earlier than April 5, 2018, your device is vulnerable
  3. Contact your device manufacturer (OEM) for the availability of the April 2018 Android security patch update
  4. Apply the security update once released by your device manufacturer
  5. Verify the security patch level has been updated to April 2018 or later after the update
Caveat Security updates are backward-compatible; applying the patch should not break functionality

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Mdm9625 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2015-9116 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