AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-11030

HIGH · 8.1 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 →
90/100
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 KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), and M(6.0) (with Hrm sensor support) software. The sysfs of the MAX86902 sensor driver does not prevent concurrent access, leading to a race condition and resultant heap-based buffer overflow. The Samsung ID is SVE-2016-7341 (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

The MAX86902 heart rate sensor driver's sysfs interface lacks proper synchronization primitives, allowing concurrent access that triggers a race condition. This race leads to a heap-based buffer overflow when multiple threads access the sensor's sysfs entries simultaneously on affected Samsung devices running Android KK, L, or M with Hrm sensor support.

MitigationApply the Samsung firmware update containing the SVE-2016-7341 patch, which adds proper locking to the MAX86902 sysfs handlers to prevent concurrent access and eliminate the race condition.

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:= 4.4= 5.0= 5.1= 6.0

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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. Check Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone and verify the Android version is exactly 4.4, 5.0, 5.1, or 6.0
    Affected if Android version matches one of these exact versions (4.4, 5.0, 5.1, or 6.0)
  2. Verify device manufacturer
    Check the device manufacturer is Samsung as the vulnerability specifically affects Samsung devices
    Affected if The device is manufactured by Samsung
  3. Confirm MAX86902 sensor presence
    Inspect system logs or /sys/class/sensors/ entries for the presence of a MAX86902 heart rate sensor device
    Affected if A MAX86902 heart rate sensor is present on the device
  4. Check HRM sensor support status
    Examine /sys/class/sensors/ or the sensor HAL configuration to determine if the HRM (heart rate monitor) sensor support is enabled and exposed via sysfs
    Affected if HRM sensor support is enabled and accessible through sysfs interface

A device is affected if it is a Samsung device running Android 4.4, 5.0, 5.1, or 6.0 with a MAX86902 heart rate sensor and HRM sensor support enabled via sysfs.

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 the Samsung firmware update containing the SVE-2016-7341 patch, which adds proper locking to the MAX86902 sysfs handlers to prevent concurrent access and eliminate the race condition.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,460
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-11030 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-11030 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