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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-6701

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-11-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.0 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
A remote code execution vulnerability in libskia in Android 7.0 before 2016-11-01 could enable an attacker using a specially crafted file to cause memory corruption during media file and data processing. This issue is rated as High due to the possibility of remote code execution within the context of the gallery process. Android ID: A-30190637.

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 corruption vulnerability exists in libskia, Android's graphics library, where a specially crafted media file can trigger heap corruption during image processing. The vulnerability allows remote code execution within the context of the gallery application process, as the gallery process handles the malformed media file.

MitigationUpdate Android devices to the November 2016 security patch level or later, which includes the libskia patch addressing CVE-2016-6701. Organizations should prioritize patching fleet devices given the high-severity RCE impact.

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:<= 7.0

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 version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if Version is 7.0 (Nougat) or earlier
  2. Check security patch level
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB
    Affected if Patch level is dated before November 2016
  3. Verify gallery app processes images
    Confirm that a gallery or photos application is installed and can be used to view image files
    Affected if The default gallery app handles untrusted image files without sandboxing or restricted permissions

A device is affected if it runs Android 7.0 or earlier with a security patch level before November 2016, enabling the libskia heap corruption to trigger when the gallery app processes a specially crafted image.

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 7.0
Interim mitigation

Update Android devices to the November 2016 security patch level or later, which includes the libskia patch addressing CVE-2016-6701. Organizations should prioritize patching fleet devices given the high-severity RCE impact.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.

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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-2016-6701 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