CVE-2016-10459
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 and Snapdragon Wear MDM9206, MDM9615, MDM9625, MDM9635M, MDM9640, MDM9645, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 400, SD 410/12, SD 615/16/SD 415, SD 617, SD 800, SD 810, and SD 820, during a call, memory exhaustion can occur.
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 confidenceMemory exhaustion vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon baseband processors allows denial-of-service during voice calls. The flaw exists in the firmware of affected Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Wear chipsets (MDM9206, MDM9615, MDM9625, MDM9635M, MDM9640, MDM9645, SD 210/212/205, SD 400, SD 410/12, SD 615/16/415, SD 617, SD 800, SD 810, SD 820) prior to the April 2018 security patch level.
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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 your device's baseband processor modelAccess the phone's baseband info through Settings > About Phone > Baseband, or dial *#*#4636#*#* on Android devices, or run 'getprop ro.baseband' via ADB shellAffected if The baseband model matches any of: MDM9206, MDM9615, MDM9625, MDM9635M, MDM9640, MDM9645, SD 210, SD 212, SD 205, SD 400, SD 410, SD 412, SD 615, SD 616, SD 415, SD 617, SD 800, SD 810, or SD 820
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Check the Android security patch levelNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Android security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shellAffected if The security patch level is earlier than April 5, 2018 (the date appears as 2018-04-05 or later)
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Verify the baseband firmware version if accessibleRun 'at+ver' or 'at+cgmm' via a serial terminal connection to the modem, or check Settings > About Phone > Baseband versionAffected if The baseband firmware version cannot be determined or is older than the April 2018 update for your specific chipset
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Confirm the chipset is a Snapdragon Mobile or Snapdragon Wear platformCheck the device specifications at Settings > About Phone > Model/Hardware, or run 'getprop ro.hardware' via ADB shell to identify the Snapdragon platformAffected if The hardware identifier corresponds to any of the listed vulnerable Snapdragon chipset families
The device is affected if it uses one of the listed Qualcomm Snapdragon baseband chipsets AND has a security patch level earlier than the April 2018 update.
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 April 5, 2018 or later security patch level to affected Android devices; for enterprise fleets, identify and update devices running older patch levels or contact OEMs for firmware updates.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10459 — 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-2016-10459 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data