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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-6731

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-11-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.0 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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
An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the NVIDIA GPU driver in Android before 2016-11-05 could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. Android ID: A-30906023. References: NVIDIA N-CVE-2016-6731.

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 · moderate confidence

This is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the NVIDIA GPU driver for Android that allows a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within kernel context. The vulnerability enables a non-privileged app to gain kernel-level access, effectively bypassing Android's permission model and sandboxing. This type of kernel-level compromise is particularly severe as it provides full control over the device.

MitigationApply the vendor patch (NVIDIA GPU driver update integrated into Android system updates released after 2016-11-05). For end-of-life devices that cannot receive updates, implement network-based mitigation and consider device replacement, as the vulnerability may require reflashing to remediate if exploited.

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android version. The vulnerability affects Android 7.0 and below.
    Affected if Android version is 7.0 or lower (e.g., 7.0, 6.0, 5.1, etc.)
  2. Identify NVIDIA GPU hardware
    Check /proc/cpuinfo for NVIDIA GPU or run 'getprop ro.hardware' to see if the device uses an NVIDIA SoC (e.g., Tegra). Also check /sys/class/drm for NVIDIA GPU nodes.
    Affected if Device contains an NVIDIA GPU (Tegra-based SoC or discrete NVIDIA GPU in the device)
  3. Check for NVIDIA kernel modules
    Run 'lsmod' or check /proc/modules for nvidia-related modules such as nvgpu, nvmap, or nvidia.ko. Also check /sys/module/ for nvidia* directories.
    Affected if NVIDIA GPU kernel modules are loaded or present on the system
  4. Verify NVIDIA driver version
    If NVIDIA modules exist, check the driver version via 'modinfo nvidia' or by reading version information from /sys/module/nvidia/version. Compare against the fixed version released after 2016-11-05.
    Affected if Driver version is older than the November 2016 security patch level or cannot be determined
  5. Check for vulnerable driver interfaces
    Examine /dev/ for nvidia* device nodes (e.g., /dev/nvidia0, /dev/nvhost-ctrl) and verify the driver is exposed to user-space applications. The vulnerability allows a non-privileged app to interact with these interfaces.
    Affected if NVIDIA device nodes exist and are accessible to applications

A device is affected if it runs Android 7.0 or below and contains an NVIDIA GPU driver, as the vulnerability exists in the NVIDIA GPU driver component that enables kernel-level code execution from a non-privileged application.

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

Apply the vendor patch (NVIDIA GPU driver update integrated into Android system updates released after 2016-11-05). For end-of-life devices that cannot receive updates, implement network-based mitigation and consider device replacement, as the vulnerability may require reflashing to remediate if exploited.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,080
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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-2016-6731 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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