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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-0838

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-04-18
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
Sonivox in mediaserver in Android 4.x before 4.4.4, 5.0.x before 5.0.2, 5.1.x before 5.1.1, and 6.x before 2016-04-01 does not check for a negative number of samples, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted media file, related to arm-wt-22k/lib_src/eas_wtengine.c and arm-wt-22k/lib_src/eas_wtsynth.c, aka internal bug 26366256.

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

Integer underflow vulnerability in Sonivox audio synthesizer (EAS library) within Android's mediaserver. The eas_wtengine.c and eas_wtsynth.c components fail to validate the sample count parameter, allowing a negative value to be processed. This causes memory corruption when the audio processing logic operates on the invalid (negative) sample count, enabling remote code execution via crafted media files.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for Android (released April 2016) to affected Android versions 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x. The fix requires adding proper bounds checking for the sample count parameter in the EAS audio engine before processing audio data.

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:= 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= 4.3.1

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
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. Check Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via adb shell
    Affected 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
  2. Verify mediaserver is active
    Run 'ps | grep mediaserver' via adb shell to confirm the mediaserver process is running
    Affected if The mediaserver process is running (this is the service that hosts the vulnerable EAS library)
  3. Locate the EAS audio library
    Run 'find /system -name "*eas*" -o -name "*sonivox*" 2>/dev/null' via adb shell to find the compiled EAS or Sonivox library files
    Affected if The EAS library files (libeas.so, libsonivox.so, or similar) exist on the device

If the Android version is between 4.0 and 4.3.1 inclusive and the mediaserver process is running with the EAS library present, the device is affected by this 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.

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

Apply the vendor patch for Android (released April 2016) to affected Android versions 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x. The fix requires adding proper bounds checking for the sample count parameter in the EAS audio engine before processing audio data.

Recommended fix High confidence

Android 4.4.4 (or later stable release supported by device)

  1. 1. Identify the affected Android device model and current Android version (4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, or 4.0.3)
  2. 2. Check the device manufacturer's support page or the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) for available updates
  3. 3. If Android 4.4.4 or later is available for the specific device model, download and install the update via Settings > About phone > System updates or OTA (Over-The-Air) update
  4. 4. If no update is available from the manufacturer, consider flashing a custom ROM that is based on Android 4.4.4 or later (note: this voids warranty and requires technical expertise)
  5. 5. After updating, verify the patch is applied by checking Settings > About phone > Android security patch level (should be April 2016 or later)
Caveat Upgrading from Android 4.0.x to 4.4.4 may remove support for some legacy apps; some pre-4.4.4 apps may be incompatible

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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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-2016-0838 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