dbcve.org
AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-2418

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-04-18
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
media/libmedia/IOMX.cpp in mediaserver in Android 6.x before 2016-04-01 does not initialize certain metadata buffer pointers, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information from process memory, and consequently bypass an unspecified protection mechanism, via unspecified vectors, as demonstrated by obtaining Signature or SignatureOrSystem access, aka internal bug 26324358.

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

A memory initialization vulnerability exists in the IOMX.cpp component of Android's mediaserver where certain metadata buffer pointers are not properly initialized before use. This allows uninitialized memory contents to be leaked through the media processing path, potentially exposing sensitive data from process memory that can be weaponized to escalate privileges to Signature or SignatureOrSystem level access.

MitigationApply the upstream patch from the 2016-04-01 Android security bulletin that initializes the metadata buffer pointers in media/libmedia/IOMX.cpp. Given the critical CVSS score and privilege escalation potential, prioritize deployment to all affected Android 6.x devices.

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:= 6.0= 6.0.1

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. Check Android version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in terminal or check Settings > About Phone > Android version
    Affected if Version is 6.0 or 6.0.1 exactly (not 5.x, not 6.0.2 or higher)
  2. Verify mediaserver component exists
    Check for /system/bin/mediaserver or /vendor/bin/mediaserver process on the device
    Affected if The mediaserver binary is present and running on the device
  3. Confirm IOMX library is loaded
    Run 'ps -A | grep mediaserver' and check loaded libraries via '/proc/<mediaserver_pid>/maps' for libmedia.so
    Affected if The mediaserver process is active and libmedia.so is loaded in its address space
  4. Check if device receives media content
    Inspect if device processes untrusted media input (video playback, camera, etc.) via mediaserver
    Affected if The device processes media through mediaserver with the vulnerable code path

The device is affected if it runs Android 6.0 or 6.0.1 and uses mediaserver to process media content, as the uninitialized metadata buffer pointers in IOMX.cpp will be triggered during media operations.

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 the upstream patch from the 2016-04-01 Android security bulletin that initializes the metadata buffer pointers in media/libmedia/IOMX.cpp. Given the critical CVSS score and privilege escalation potential, prioritize deployment to all affected Android 6.x devices.

Recommended fix High confidence

Android 6.0.1 with April 2016 security patch level (or later), or Android 7.0+

  1. Identify the current Android version by going to Settings > About Phone > Android version
  2. Check if your device manufacturer has released the April 2016 security update (2016-04-01) or later for your device
  3. If the manufacturer has released an update, apply it via Settings > System > Software Update or Settings > About Phone > Software Update
  4. If no update is available from your manufacturer, consider upgrading to a device running Android 7.0 or later which includes this and subsequent security patches
  5. Alternatively, if your device supports custom ROMs, flash a ROM based on Android 7.x or later that includes the upstream fix
Caveat Upgrading Android versions may cause incompatibility with apps requiring older Android API levels, and some apps or device features may not function identically on newer Android versions

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing20.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
46.0 hours of engineering $7,800
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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-2016-2418 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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