CVE-2016-6732
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 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-30906599. References: NVIDIA N-CVE-2016-6732.
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 local privilege escalation vulnerability in the NVIDIA GPU driver for Android allows a malicious application to execute arbitrary code within kernel context. This represents a complete compromise of Android's security sandbox, granting the attacker kernel-level privileges and permanent device control.
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<= 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm device has an NVIDIA GPUCheck device specifications or use a system information app to identify the GPU manufacturer. Look for NVIDIA GPUs such as Tegra series in the device hardware details.Affected if The device contains an NVIDIA GPU and the vulnerable driver is present
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Check Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell.Affected if Android version is 7.0 or earlier (any version up to and including 7.0)
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Verify NVIDIA GPU driver presenceCheck for NVIDIA GPU driver files in the system. Look for NVIDIA-specific driver components or libraries related to the GPU (exact paths vary by device).Affected if NVIDIA GPU driver is installed on the system
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Confirm security patch levelCheck the security patch date at Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell.Affected if Security patch level is earlier than November 2016
A device is affected if it has an NVIDIA GPU, runs Android 7.0 or earlier, and has a security patch level 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 November 2016 Android security patch (or later) which addresses this NVIDIA GPU driver vulnerability. Devices that cannot receive updates may require replacement, as exploitation may require reflashing the OS to repair.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6732 — 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-2016-6732 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data