CVE-2016-0805
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 · uneditedThe performance event manager for Qualcomm ARM processors in Android 4.x before 4.4.4, 5.x before 5.1.1 LMY49G, and 6.x before 2016-02-01 allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka internal bug 25773204.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Qualcomm ARM processor performance event manager in Android. A crafted malicious application can exploit improper access controls in the performance event handling code to elevate privileges from user-level to root, achieving arbitrary code execution with elevated system privileges.
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= 4.0= 4.0.1= 4.0.2= 4.0.3= 4.0.4= 4.1= 4.1.2= 4.2= 4.2.1= 4.2.2= 4.3= 4.3.1CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 Android versionCheck the device settings under Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if The version is 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.0.3, 4.0.4, 4.1, 4.1.2, 4.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.3, or 4.3.1
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Confirm processor vendorCheck the processor information via 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' or 'getprop ro.hardware' in ADB shell, looking for Qualcomm ARM-based SoCAffected if The device uses a Qualcomm ARM processor; the vulnerability exists in Qualcomm's performance event manager subsystem
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Check kernel for performance event subsystemVerify the kernel supports perf_event_open system call by checking /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid or reviewing kernel configuration for CONFIG_PERF_EVENTSAffected if The performance event subsystem is present and accessible to user-space applications, which is required for the exploit to function
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Review application installation policyAudit installed applications for any suspicious or untrusted apps that may have been installed, particularly if side-loading is enabledAffected if Untrusted or malicious applications have been installed on the device, as this local privilege escalation requires a malicious app to be present to exploit the vulnerability
The device is affected if it runs Android 4.0 through 4.3.1 on a Qualcomm ARM processor and has the performance event subsystem accessible, meaning a malicious installed application could exploit improper access controls to gain root privileges.
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 patch released February 2016 or later (which includes the fix for internal bug 25773204) to affected devices running Android 4.x, 5.x, or 6.x before the patch date.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 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 $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0805 — 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-2016-0805 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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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.
- 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
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