dbcve.org
AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-10382

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-08-18
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
In all Qualcomm products with Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, access control to the I2C bus is not sufficient.

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

This vulnerability describes insufficient access control enforcement on the I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus in Qualcomm Android devices using Linux kernel builds from CAF (Code Aurora Forum). The I2C bus is a serial communication protocol used for low-speed peripheral communication between chips on a circuit board. Lack of proper access control could allow unprivileged processes or components to read from or write to I2C devices they should not have access to, potentially enabling privilege escalation or hardware manipulation.

MitigationApply vendor-provided security patches from Qualcomm and device OEMs; ensure Android updates include the CAF kernel security fixes addressing I2C access controls. Consider implementing or enforcing SELinux policies restricting I2C device access to privileged domains.

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
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. Confirm Android environment
    Check /system/build.prop exists and contains 'ro.build.version.sdk' or run 'getprop ro.build.version.sdk' to verify Android OS
    Affected if Device is not running Android OS - this vulnerability only affects Android devices with Qualcomm CAF kernels
  2. Verify Qualcomm CAF kernel
    Examine /proc/version or /proc/config.gz for presence of 'CAF' (Code Aurora Forum) or 'Qualcomm' in the kernel version string, or check /sys/kernel/boot_params/boot_adsp for Qualcomm artifacts
    Affected if Kernel is not a Qualcomm CAF build - vulnerability is specific to Qualcomm CAF kernel implementations
  3. Identify I2C device nodes
    List /dev/i2c-* entries (e.g., ls -la /dev/i2c-*) or check /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ for I2C adapter and device nodes
    Affected if No I2C devices present on the system - vulnerability requires I2C hardware buses to be exposed
  4. Check I2C device permissions
    Run 'ls -la /dev/i2c-*' to examine file permissions on I2C device nodes; verify if world-readable/writable or owned by root with restrictive group permissions
    Affected if I2C devices are owned by root:root with permissions 666 (world-readable/writable) or accessible to non-privileged users/groups indicating missing access controls
  5. Inspect SELinux I2C context
    Run 'ls -Z /dev/i2c-*' or 'ls -Z /sys/bus/i2c/devices/' to check SELinux security contexts; check for 'u:object_r:i2c_device:s0' or similar restricted contexts versus unconfined or system contexts
    Affected if I2C devices have permissive SELinux contexts (like u:object_r:device:s0 or no label) allowing unprivileged domain access, or SELinux is set to permissive mode

User is affected if running Android with a Qualcomm CAF kernel that exposes I2C devices with overly permissive file permissions or SELinux contexts allowing unprivileged access.

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 vendor-provided security patches from Qualcomm and device OEMs; ensure Android updates include the CAF kernel security fixes addressing I2C access controls. Consider implementing or enforcing SELinux policies restricting I2C device access to privileged domains.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
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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-2016-10382 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