AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-10234

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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
An information disclosure vulnerability in the Qualcomm IPA driver. Product: Android. Versions: Android kernel. Android ID: A-34390017. References: QC-CR#1069060.

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 · moderate confidence

An information disclosure vulnerability exists in the Qualcomm IPA (Internet Protocol Adapter) driver within the Android kernel. The vulnerability allows a local attacker to potentially access sensitive information due to improper handling in the IPA driver. The CVSS vector suggests local attack vector with low complexity.

MitigationApply the latest Android security patches and firmware updates from device manufacturers that include the fix for QC-CR#1069060. The vulnerability is addressed through kernel and driver updates from Qualcomm.

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: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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Confirm device uses a Qualcomm chipset
    Check the device specifications or use commands like 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' to identify the processor manufacturer. This vulnerability exists in the Qualcomm IPA (Internet Protocol Adapter) driver, so it only affects devices with Qualcomm components.
    Affected if The device does not use a Qualcomm processor - the vulnerability is in a Qualcomm-specific driver.
  2. Check the Android security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level on the device, or use 'adb shell settings get secure android.security_patch' to retrieve the patch date.
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the date when this Qualcomm fix (QC-CR#1069060) was incorporated, which varies by device manufacturer.
  3. Verify the kernel version
    Use 'adb shell uname -r' or check the kernel version displayed in Settings > About Phone > Kernel Version.
    Affected if The kernel version is older and predates the Qualcomm driver updates containing the fix for this issue.
  4. Confirm the IPA driver presence
    Use 'adb shell ls /dev/ipa' or check for the IPA driver module via 'adb shell lsmod | grep ipa' if module loading is supported on the device.
    Affected if The IPA driver is present and the device has not received the specific Qualcomm driver update.

A user is affected if they are running any unpatched Android version on a Qualcomm-based device where the IPA driver has not been updated to include the fix for QC-CR#1069060.

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 latest Android security patches and firmware updates from device manufacturers that include the fix for QC-CR#1069060. The vulnerability is addressed through kernel and driver updates from Qualcomm.

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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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2016-10234 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