CVE-2017-15820
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 all Qualcomm products with Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, in a KGSL IOCTL handler, a Use After Free Condition can potentially occur.
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 confidenceA Use After Free vulnerability in the KGSL (Kernel Graphics Support Layer) IOCTL handler in Qualcomm Android devices using CAF Linux kernels. The UAF occurs in the graphics driver IOCTL interface, potentially allowing local privilege escalation or denial of service through memory corruption.
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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Identify if the device uses a Qualcomm SoCCheck /proc/cpuinfo for Qualcomm Snapdragon processor identifiers, or use 'getprop ro.hardware' or 'getprop ro.board.platform' to find Qualcomm-related hardware identifiersAffected if The device does not have a Qualcomm Snapdragon or other Qualcomm processor (KGSL is Qualcomm-specific)
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Verify the KGSL graphics driver is presentCheck for KGSL module or device nodes: 'ls -la /dev/kgsl*' or 'lsmod | grep kgsl' or check /sys/module/ for kgsl directoryAffected if No KGSL driver or device files exist (the vulnerability only affects systems with the KGSL driver loaded)
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Determine if the kernel is a CAF (Code Aurora Forum) buildRun 'uname -a' and inspect the kernel version string; also check 'cat /proc/version' for CAF or Qualcomm identifiers in the kernel build informationAffected if The kernel is not a CAF-built kernel (the vulnerability is specific to CAF Linux kernels used in Qualcomm Android devices)
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Check for the KGSL IOCTL interfaceVerify the existence of the graphics IOCTL interface at /dev/kgsl-3d0 (the primary KGSL 3D rendering device node)Affected if The KGSL-3D0 device node does not exist (the vulnerability occurs in this IOCTL handler)
A user is affected if their Qualcomm Android device uses a CAF-built kernel with the KGSL driver and graphics device node present, as the UAF vulnerability exists in the KGSL IOCTL handler on these specific configurations.
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 vendor-supplied security patches for affected Qualcomm Android devices; contact OEM for kernel/firmware updates addressing the KGSL UAF vulnerability.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-15820 — 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-2017-15820 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
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