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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-3775

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 kernel filesystem implementation in Android before 2016-07-05 on Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and Pixel C devices allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka internal bug 28588279.

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 local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Android kernel filesystem implementation before July 5, 2016 allows a crafted malicious application to gain elevated (root) privileges on affected Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and Pixel C devices.

MitigationApply the Android security update released on July 5, 2016 or later, which contains the kernel patch addressing this vulnerability in the filesystem subsystem.

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. Check Android OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if Version is 6.0.1 or lower (6.0, 5.1, 5.0, etc.)
  2. Check security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell
    Affected if Patch level is earlier than 2016-07-05 or shows no date
  3. Verify device model
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Model number, or run 'getprop ro.product.model' via ADB shell
    Affected if Model is one of: Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, or Pixel C
  4. Check kernel version
    Run 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version' via ADB shell to examine the kernel build date and version
    Affected if Kernel version predates the July 5, 2016 kernel patch for the filesystem subsystem

A device is affected if it runs Android 6.0.1 or earlier, has a security patch level before July 5, 2016, and is a Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, or Pixel C device.

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 Android security update released on July 5, 2016 or later, which contains the kernel patch addressing this vulnerability in the filesystem subsystem.

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

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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-2016-3775 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