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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-0809

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-02-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Use-after-free vulnerability in the wifi_cleanup function in bcmdhd/wifi_hal/wifi_hal.cpp in Wi-Fi in Android 6.x before 2016-02-01 allows attackers to gain privileges by leveraging access to the local physical environment during execution of a crafted application, aka internal bug 25753768.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in the wifi_cleanup function in Android's Wi-Fi HAL (hardware abstraction layer) component (bcmdhd/wifi_hal/wifi_hal.cpp). The vulnerability occurs in Android 6.x before the February 2016 security patch, where memory is freed but still referenced, potentially allowing a crafted application to gain elevated privileges.

MitigationApply the Android security patch dated 2016-02-01 or later. Device manufacturers must release firmware updates containing the fixed Wi-Fi HAL code.

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:= 6.0= 6.0.1

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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. Verify Android version is 6.0 or 6.0.1
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if Version shows 6.0 or 6.0.1 exactly
  2. Check security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB
    Affected if Patch level is earlier than 2016-02-01 or the field is empty
  3. Confirm Wi-Fi is enabled
    Check if Wi-Fi is turned on in Settings > Wi-Fi, or run 'dumpsys wifi' via ADB to verify Wi-Fi HAL is actively running
    Affected if Wi-Fi is enabled and the HAL is loaded (the vulnerable code path only executes when Wi-Fi is active)

Device is affected if running Android 6.0 or 6.0.1 with a security patch level earlier than February 2016 and with Wi-Fi enabled, since the use-after-free in wifi_cleanup only triggers during Wi-Fi HAL operations.

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 Android security patch dated 2016-02-01 or later. Device manufacturers must release firmware updates containing the fixed Wi-Fi HAL code.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2016-0809 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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