CVE-2017-11033
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 · uneditedIn Android for MSM, Firefox OS for MSM, QRD Android, with all Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, in the coresight-tmc driver, a simultaneous read and enable of the ETR device after changing the buffer size may result in a Use After Free condition of the previous buffer.
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 Use After Free vulnerability exists in the coresight-tmc kernel driver used for ARM CoreSight trace functionality. When the ETR (Embedded Trace Router) buffer size is changed, a race condition between simultaneous read and enable operations can cause the driver to access memory for the old buffer after it has been freed, leading to potential privilege escalation or system instability.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 coresight-tmc driver presenceCheck if the coresight-tmc kernel module is present in /sys/module/ or listed in lsmod output. On Android, this may also be visible in /proc/config.gz or the kernel build config under CONFIG_CORESIGHT_TMC.Affected if The driver is loaded or built into the kernel and the system uses ARM CoreSight trace functionality.
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Identify if ETR functionality is in useCheck for ETR device nodes in /dev/ (such as /dev/coresight-tmc-etr) or examine sysfs entries under /sys/bus/coresight/devices/ for an ETR (Embedded Trace Router) device.Affected if An ETR device is present and accessible on the device, indicating the vulnerable code path could be triggered.
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Check CoreSight tracing configurationReview /sys/kernel/debug/coresight/ or use the perf tool to list active trace sinks and sources. Look for configurations where tmc_etr is enabled as a sink.Affected if CoreSight trace sessions involving ETR are configured or active, exposing the race condition window during buffer operations.
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Verify Android kernel version and buildRetrieve the running kernel version via uname -a and check if it is a standard Android kernel. Note that all Android versions are affected per the CVE, but confirming the build includes coresight-tmc support.Affected if The device runs any Android kernel version with coresight-tmc compiled in, regardless of kernel version number.
A device is affected if it runs any version of Android with the coresight-tmc driver built-in or loaded and has ARM CoreSight ETR functionality available or in use.
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 vendor-specific kernel patch that adds proper synchronization around buffer size changes in the coresight-tmc driver. This typically involves adding mutex/lock protection to prevent concurrent access during buffer reallocation.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-11033 — 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-2017-11033 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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