CVE-2016-6751
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 Qualcomm components including the GPU driver, power driver, SMSM Point-to-Point driver, and sound driver in Android before 2016-11-05 could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. Android ID: A-30902162. References: Qualcomm QC-CR#1062271.
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 confidenceThis is an information disclosure vulnerability in multiple Qualcomm kernel-mode drivers (GPU, power, SMSM Point-to-Point, and sound) in Android. A local malicious application could access data outside its permission levels, but only after first compromising a privileged process to gain elevated access. The drivers fail to properly validate or enforce permission boundaries, allowing escaped data access.
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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 versionGo to Settings > About Phone and verify the Android version. If the device runs Android 7.0 (Nougat) or earlier, it falls within the affected version range.Affected if Android version is 7.0 or lower
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Identify the chipset vendorCheck the device specifications or use system information tools to determine if the device uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, as this vulnerability specifically affects Qualcomm kernel-mode drivers.Affected if The device uses Qualcomm chipset components
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Verify the security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level. This displays the date of the last Android security update. The fix for this CVE was included in the November 5, 2016 security patch level.Affected if Security patch level is earlier than November 5, 2016 or not displayed
A device is affected if it runs Android 7.0 or earlier, uses Qualcomm chipsets, and has a security patch level earlier than November 5, 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 patch level from November 5, 2016 or later, which includes the vendor-specific fix for Qualcomm driver permission boundaries (QC-CR#1062271). This is a system-level update requiring vendor firmware/driver patches.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6751 — 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-2016-6751 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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