CVE-2016-10381
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 · uneditedIn all Qualcomm products with Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, the UE can send unprotected MeasurementReports revealing UE location.
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 confidenceIn Qualcomm baseband/modem firmware used in Android devices with CAF Linux kernel releases, MeasurementReports containing location-related information are sent without proper encryption or integrity protection. This allows an attacker with radio access to intercept these unprotected reports and determine the user's geographic location.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the baseband/modem chipsetCheck device specifications or use 'getprop' commands (e.g., 'getprop ro.baseband', 'getprop gsm.version.baseband') to determine if the device uses Qualcomm baseband/modem firmwareAffected if The device uses Qualcomm baseband and the firmware predates the patch that enables encryption/integrity protection on MeasurementReports
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Check baseband firmware versionRun 'getprop | grep baseband' or check Settings > About Phone > Baseband version to obtain the installed baseband firmware versionAffected if The baseband version is older than the patched version provided by the device OEM/vendor
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Verify MeasurementReport protection statusThis requires access to radio layer logging or packet capture analysis of RRC (Radio Resource Control) messages to observe if MeasurementReports are sent in cleartext or with 3GPP integrity/encryptionAffected if MeasurementReports containing location information are observed being transmitted without encryption (ciphering) or integrity protection
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Confirm device is Android with Qualcomm CAF kernelCheck 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' and 'uname -a' to confirm Android version and kernel origin; verify device uses Qualcomm processor and modemAffected if Device runs Android with Qualcomm processor/modem on CAF-derived kernel and has not received the vendor firmware update
A user is affected if their Android device uses Qualcomm baseband/modem firmware that predates the vendor patch enabling encryption and integrity protection for MeasurementReports, allowing unprotected location data to be intercepted.
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 vendor-supplied Qualcomm firmware patch (via CAF/OEM OTA update) that enables proper protection/encryption of MeasurementReports in the modem baseband software.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,784.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10381 — 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-2016-10381 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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