CVE-2016-10406
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 Android before 2018-04-05 or earlier security patch level on Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile MDM9650, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 410/12, SD 430, SD 450, SD 615/16/SD 415, SD 617, SD 625, SD 650/52, SD 808, SD 810, SD 820, and SD 835, while printing debug message of a pointer in wlan_qmi_err_cb, the real kernel address will be printed regardless of the kptr_restrict system settings.
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 confidenceA kernel pointer information disclosure vulnerability exists in the Qualcomm WLAN driver (wlan_qmi_err_cb) where debug messages print raw kernel addresses regardless of the kptr_restrict system setting. This allows attackers to leak kernel pointer values, potentially bypassing KASLR protection.
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 versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Qualcomm chipset modelCheck /proc/cpuinfo, lspci, or /sys/class/soc for Qualcomm Snapdragon identifiers (e.g., mdm9650, sd210, sd212, sd205, sd410, sd412, sd430, sd450)Affected if The device uses any of the listed Qualcomm chipsets (Mdm9650, Sd210, Sd212, Sd205, Sd410, Sd412, Sd430, Sd450)
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Check the firmware security patch levelLook for the baseband or WLAN firmware version in /proc/version, /sys/class/net/*/device/firmware_version, or via at commands (e.g., AT+CGMR). Compare against April 2018 patch date.Affected if Firmware predates the April 2018 vendor security patch or the patch level cannot be verified
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Inspect kernel logs for pointer leaksExamine dmesg, /var/log/kern.log, or journalctl output for raw hexadecimal addresses appearing in WLAN driver messages, specifically from wlan_qmi_err_cbAffected if Raw kernel pointers (e.g., 0xffffff8000000000 style addresses) appear in kernel logs related to WLAN driver errors
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Check if debug logging is enabled for WLAN driverInspect /sys/module/wlan/parameters/debug_level or check for CONFIG_DEBUG_DRIVER enabled in kernel config. Also check if kmsg device (/dev/kmsg) is readable by unprivileged users.Affected if WLAN driver debug logging is enabled or kernel message buffer is accessible to non-root users
A device is affected if it uses any of the listed Qualcomm chipsets with firmware predating the April 2018 security patch and has accessible kernel logs where raw pointer addresses could be observed.
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 security patch (April 2018 or later security patch level) for affected Snapdragon devices. Until patched, assume kernel addresses can be leaked via debug logs.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10406 — 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-2016-10406 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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