CVE-2016-6587
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 · uneditedAn Information Disclosure vulnerability exists in the mid.dat file stored on the SD card in Symantec Norton Mobile Security for Android before 3.16, which could let a local malicious user obtain sensitive information.
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 confidenceSymantec Norton Mobile Security for Android before version 3.16 stores sensitive information in a file named mid.dat on the removable SD card. This file is accessible to any local application on the device with storage permissions, allowing a malicious local user to read sensitive data that should be protected.
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< 3.16CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Verify Norton Mobile Security for Android is installedCheck your device's app list or use 'adb shell pm list packages' to see if Norton Mobile Security is presentAffected if The app is installed on the device
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Check the installed version of Norton Mobile SecurityOpen Google Play Store, find Norton Mobile Security, check the version in the app details, or use 'adb shell dumpsys package com.symantec.mobiseal' to retrieve version infoAffected if The version number is lower than 3.16 (e.g., 3.15, 3.14, etc.)
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Determine if a removable SD card is mountedCheck device storage settings or use 'adb shell sm list-volumes' to see if external storage is availableAffected if A removable SD card is inserted and mounted as external storage
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Locate the mid.dat file on the SD cardUse a file manager app to browse the SD card, or use 'adb shell ls /storage/XXXX-XXXX/Android/data/com.symantec.mobiseal/files/' (replace XXXX-XXXX with your SD card label) to search for mid.datAffected if The file mid.dat exists on the removable SD card storage
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Inspect the contents of mid.dat for sensitive dataOpen mid.dat using a text editor or file viewer, or use 'adb shell cat /storage/XXXX-XXXX/path/to/mid.dat' to read its contentsAffected if The file contains sensitive information such as login credentials, tokens, or personal data that should be protected
You are affected if Norton Mobile Security for Android version 3.16 or lower is installed and a mid.dat file containing sensitive data exists on the removable SD card storage.
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 data3.16
Update Norton Mobile Security for Android to version 3.16 or later. If unable to update, restrict app permissions and avoid storing sensitive data on external SD card storage.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6587 — 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-2016-6587 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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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.
- 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