CVE-2016-7988
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 · uneditedOn Samsung Galaxy S4 through S7 devices, absence of permissions on the BroadcastReceiver responsible for handling the com.[Samsung].android.intent.action.SET_WIFI intent leads to unsolicited configuration messages being handled by wifi-service.jar within the Android Framework, a subset of SVE-2016-6542.
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 BroadcastReceiver in Samsung Galaxy S4-S7 devices that handles the com.[Samsung].android.intent.action.SET_WIFI intent lacks proper permission protection, allowing any installed application to send unsolicited WiFi configuration messages directly to the system's wifi-service.jar component without authentication.
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= 4.2.2= 4.3= 4.3.1= 4.4= 4.4.1= 4.4.2= 4.4.3= 4.4.4= 5.0= 5.0.1= 5.0.2= 5.1CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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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Identify device modelCheck if the device is a Samsung Galaxy S4, S5, S6, or S7 by going to Settings > About Phone > Model NumberAffected if The model number starts with GT-I9500 (S4), GT-I9505, SM-G900 (S5), SM-G920 (S6), or SM-G930 (S7) series
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Check Android versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if The Android version is 4.2.2, 4.3, 4.3.1, 4.4 through 4.4.4, or 5.0 through 5.1
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Verify Samsung security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level (or Settings > Security > Security policy version)Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the October 2016 Samsung security update or shows no patch date
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Confirm vulnerable BroadcastReceiver presenceUse a rooted shell or ADB to check if the BroadcastReceiver handling com.samsung.android.intent.action.SET_WIFI exists in the system: `dumpsys package | grep -i 'SET_WIFI'` or inspect the Samsung framework APKAffected if A BroadcastReceiver is registered for the SET_WIFI intent without permission requirements
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Test intent accessibility (requires technical expertise)Use ADB or a test app to send the intent `com.samsung.android.intent.action.SET_WIFI` without any signature or system permissions and observe if it reaches wifi-service.jarAffected if The intent is processed without permission errors
The device is affected if it is a Samsung Galaxy S4-S7 running Android 4.2.2-5.1 without the October 2016 or later Samsung security update and the vulnerable SET_WIFI BroadcastReceiver is present without permission enforcement.
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 dataThis is a device firmware vulnerability requiring Samsung to add permission enforcement to the BroadcastReceiver. Users should apply Samsung security updates as they become available.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7988 — 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-2016-7988 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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