CVE-2016-3755
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 · unediteddecoder/ih264d_parse_pslice.c in mediaserver in Android 6.x before 2016-07-01 does not properly select concealment frames, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device hang or reboot) via a crafted media file, aka internal bug 28470138.
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 vulnerability in the H.264 decoder (ih264d) within Android's mediaserver component fails to properly select concealment frames when parsing P-slices, allowing a specially crafted media file to cause device hang or reboot (DoS).
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= 6.0= 6.0.1CVSS 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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Check Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if Version is 6.0 or 6.0.1 (the only affected versions listed)
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Confirm mediaserver component presenceRun 'ps -A | grep mediaserver' via ADB shell to verify the mediaserver process is running on the deviceAffected if Mediaserver is active and processing media files
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Identify H.264 decoder usageCheck if applications using H.264 decoding (video playback, video calls, streaming) are active or recent by reviewing running processes with 'ps -A'Affected if H.264 media content is being processed by the ih264d decoder component
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Review mediaserver crash logsRun 'logcat -d | grep -i mediaserver' via ADB shell to check for recent crashes, hangs, or restart eventsAffected if Mediaserver has recently crashed or the device has experienced unexplained reboots while playing video content
A device is affected if it runs Android 6.0 or 6.0.1 and the mediaserver process handles H.264 content, as the vulnerability exists in the ih264d decoder's P-slice concealment frame logic for those specific versions.
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 July 2016 Android Security Bulletin patch (or later) which addresses this mediaserver vulnerability in the H.264 decoder's slice parsing logic.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,192.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3755 — 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-2016-3755 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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