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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-11028

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-07
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
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with software through 2016-09-13 (Exynos AP chipsets). There is a stack-based buffer overflow in the OTP TrustZone trustlet. The Samsung IDs are SVE-2016-7173 and SVE-2016-7174 (December 2016).

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 confidence

Stack-based buffer overflow in the OTP (One-Time Programming) TrustZone trustlet on Samsung mobile devices with Exynos AP chipsets through 2016-09-13. This vulnerability exists in the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), allowing potential privilege escalation and TEE compromise.

MitigationApply Samsung security patches released December 2016 or later; enterprises should inventory affected Galaxy devices on Exynos chipsets and push firmware updates via MDM or OTA.

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:3.1/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. Identify the device chipset
    Check /proc/cpuinfo or use 'getprop ro.hardware' to determine if the device uses an Exynos AP chipset
    Affected if The device is a Samsung Galaxy model with Exynos chipset (common in international variants of S6, S7, Note 5, etc.)
  2. Check the Android security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than December 2016 or the field is empty/unavailable
  3. Verify the firmware build date
    Check Settings > About Phone > Build number or run 'getprop ro.build.date'
    Affected if The build date is on or before 2016-09-13
  4. Confirm TEE/TrustZone is present
    Check for the existence of /dev/tz0 or /dev/tee, or check 'getprop ro.trustonic.tech' or similar TEE-related system properties
    Affected if The device has TrustZone/TEE enabled (this is the default state for affected devices)
  5. Check for Samsung-specific TEE daemon
    Look for mTEE or Samsung's TrustZone-related services running, check /vendor/etc/ or /system/etc/ for trustlet binaries related to OTP
    Affected if The device runs Samsung's TEE implementation with OTP trustlet present

A Samsung device with an Exynos chipset that has a security patch level before December 2016 and has TrustZone/TEE enabled is likely affected by this vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Samsung security patches released December 2016 or later; enterprises should inventory affected Galaxy devices on Exynos chipsets and push firmware updates via MDM or OTA.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Samsung devices should receive the December 2016 SMR or later which includes patches for SVE-2016-7173 and SVE-2016-7174

  1. Check if your Samsung device uses an Exynos AP chipset (affected chipsets include Exynos 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 series)
  2. Verify your current Android security patch level in Settings > About phone > Software information
  3. Apply the latest Samsung Security Maintenance Release (SMR) from Settings > Software update > Download and install
  4. If your device no longer receives official security updates, consider upgrading to a newer device that still receives monthly security patches
Caveat Older Samsung devices may stop receiving security updates after the vendor's support lifecycle ends; Exynos-based devices from 2016 may have limited or no further update support

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,160
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2016-11028 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