CVE-2016-6714
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 · uneditedA remote denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver in Android 6.x before 2016-11-01 and 7.0 before 2016-11-01 could enable an attacker to use a specially crafted file to cause a device hang or reboot. This issue is rated as High due to the possibility of remote denial of service. Android ID: A-31092462.
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 confidenceA denial of service vulnerability exists in Android's Mediaserver component. The vulnerability can be triggered by processing a specially crafted media file, causing the device to hang or reboot. This affects Android 6.x and 7.0 versions released before the November 2016 security patch level.
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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'Affected if Version is 6.0, 6.0.1, or 7.0 (versions outside this range are not affected)
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Check security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'Affected if Patch level is earlier than November 2016 (format typically shows month-year, e.g., 'October 2016' or '2016-10-05')
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Confirm Mediaserver is accessibleRun 'adb shell ps -A | grep mediaserver' to verify the Mediaserver process is runningAffected if Process is running (required for vulnerability to be triggerable)
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Verify untrusted media processing capabilityCheck if apps can process media files from external sources (normal device operation)Affected if Device can process media files from untrusted sources - this is the trigger condition for the flaw
The device is affected if it runs Android 6.0, 6.0.1, or 7.0 with a security patch level released before 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 Android security update released November 2016 or later, which patches the Mediaserver vulnerability. Users should avoid opening or processing media files from untrusted sources until the device is updated.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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 locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6714 — 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-2016-6714 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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