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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2016-6783

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-01-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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 MediaTek driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as High because it first requires compromising a privileged process. Product: Android. Versions: N/A. Android ID: A-31350044. References: MT-ALPS02943437.

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

Elevation of privilege vulnerability in a MediaTek kernel driver allows a local malicious application that has already compromised a privileged process to execute arbitrary code within kernel context, achieving full system compromise. The vulnerability resides in the MediaTek-specific driver code within the Android kernel and requires the attacker to have high-privilege access first, which elevates the CVSS complexity.

MitigationApply Android security patches from the December 2016 bulletin or later, as this vulnerability was addressed in that cycle. Device users should obtain system updates from their manufacturers; for custom ROMs or embedded devices, rebuild with the patched MediaTek driver provided by the vendor.

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:<= 7.1.0

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/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. Identify the SoC/hardware vendor
    Check /proc/cpuinfo or use 'getprop ro.hardware' or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep Hardware' to determine if the device uses a MediaTek (MTK) chipset
    Affected if The device uses MediaTek hardware; this vulnerability only exists in MediaTek-specific kernel drivers
  2. Confirm Android OS version
    Check the Android version via Settings > About Phone > Android version, or use 'getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if Android version is 7.1.0 or earlier; versions after 7.1.0 are not affected according to the affected product range
  3. Locate the MediaTek kernel driver
    Search for MediaTek driver files in /proc/modules, /sys/module/, or /vendor/lib/modules/ using 'lsmod' or 'find / -name *mediatek* -o -name *mtk*' (requires root)
    Affected if A MediaTek-specific kernel driver module is loaded or present on the device; the vulnerability resides in this vendor-specific code
  4. Check kernel version and build date
    Use 'uname -a' or 'cat /proc/version' to view the kernel build information; cross-reference with the December 2016 Android security patch date
    Affected if The kernel was built before December 2016 and contains the unpatched MediaTek driver code
  5. Inspect driver permissions and SELinux context
    If the MediaTek driver module is found, check its file permissions and SELinux context via 'ls -la /sys/module/<driver_name>' or 'ls -Z /vendor/lib/modules/' (requires root)
    Affected if The driver is accessible to privileged processes, which is the attack surface for this elevation-of-privilege flaw

A user is affected if the device runs Android 7.1.0 or earlier, uses MediaTek hardware, and contains the vulnerable MediaTek kernel driver built before the December 2016 patch cycle.

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 7.1.0
Interim mitigation

Apply Android security patches from the December 2016 bulletin or later, as this vulnerability was addressed in that cycle. Device users should obtain system updates from their manufacturers; for custom ROMs or embedded devices, rebuild with the patched MediaTek driver provided by the vendor.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing24.0 h
  • Review / QA12.0 h
60.0 hours of engineering $10,240
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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-2016-6783 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