CVE-2016-6709
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 in Conscrypt and BoringSSL in Android 6.x before 2016-11-01 and 7.0 before 2016-11-01 could enable a man-in-the-middle attacker to gain access to sensitive information if a non-standard cipher suite is used by an application. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to access data without permission. Android ID: A-31081987.
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 confidenceInformation disclosure vulnerability in Android's Conscrypt and BoringSSL cryptographic libraries (Android 6.x and 7.0 before November 2016 patches). When applications use non-standard cipher suites, a man-in-the-middle attacker can intercept and gain access to sensitive information due to improper handling of these cipher suites in the TLS/SSL implementation.
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, <= 6.0.1= 7.0CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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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Check Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone (or About Device) and locate the Android version fieldAffected if Version is 6.0, 6.0.1, or 7.0 (the device is running a vulnerable Android release)
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Check security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Android security patch level (or Settings > Security > Security patch level on some devices)Affected if The patch level is dated before November 2016 or the field is missing entirely (the vulnerability remains unpatched)
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Verify BoringSSL/Conscrypt library version (optional)Check the libboringssl.so or conscrypt.jar file version in /system/lib64 or /system/lib (exact path varies by device)Affected if The library version corresponds to the November 2016 release or earlier for Android 6.x/7.0
The device is affected if it runs Android 6.0, 6.0.1, or 7.0 and lacks the November 2016 Android security update (security patch level below November 2016).
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 November 2016 Android security update to devices. Applications should avoid using non-standard cipher suites and rely only on standard, well-vetted cipher suites provided by the platform.
- 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-2016-6709 — 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-2016-6709 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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