AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-3770

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-07-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.0.1 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
The MediaTek drivers in Android before 2016-07-05 on Android One devices allow attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka Android internal bug 28346752 and MediaTek internal bug ALPS02703102.

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 · moderate confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in MediaTek drivers on Android One devices. A crafted application can exploit the driver to gain elevated privileges, likely due to improper input validation or access control in the driver code.

MitigationApply the July 2016 Android security patch or obtain OEM-specific driver update from MediaTek to address the driver vulnerability.

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:<= 6.0.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 MediaTek chipset presence
    Check /proc/cpuinfo or use 'getprop ro.hardware' to see if the device uses a MediaTek processor. Look for 'MT' in the hardware or processor information.
    Affected if The device uses a MediaTek chipset (common identifiers: MT6580, MT6735, MT6755, etc.)
  2. Verify Android OS version
    Check the Android version via Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in ADB shell.
    Affected if Android version is 6.0.1 or earlier (versions 6.0, 5.1, 5.0, etc.)
  3. Confirm device is an Android One variant
    Check the device model and build info. Android One devices typically have 'Android One' in the model name or build description. Use 'getprop ro.product.model' to identify the specific model.
    Affected if The device is an Android One branded device using MediaTek hardware
  4. Check for vulnerable MediaTek driver modules
    List loaded kernel modules or check /system/lib/modules/ for MediaTek driver files. Look for MediaTek-specific driver files (often contain 'mtk' or MediaTek in the filename).
    Affected if MediaTek driver modules are present and loaded on the device

A user is affected if their Android One device runs Android 6.0.1 or earlier AND uses a MediaTek chipset with the vulnerable driver code present.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6.0.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the July 2016 Android security patch or obtain OEM-specific driver update from MediaTek to address the driver vulnerability.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3770 — 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-2016-3770 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