AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2017-15852

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-03-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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
Information leak of the ISPIF base address in Android for MSM, Firefox OS for MSM, and QRD Android can occur in the camera driver.

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 confidence

An information disclosure vulnerability in the camera driver exposes the ISPIF (Image Signal Processor Interface) base address to userspace. This leak could aid attackers in understanding memory layout and developing further exploits targeting the camera subsystem or related kernel components.

MitigationApply vendor security patches that address this camera driver information leak; update device firmware to the latest security patch level containing the fix for CVE-2017-15852.

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:all versions

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Android security patch level
    Check the device settings under Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level. Compare the date to when the CVE was publicly disclosed (December 2017).
    Affected if The Security Patch Level is earlier than December 2017, indicating the device has not received the fix for this vulnerability.
  2. Identify camera driver in use
    Examine /proc/config.gz (if available) or kernel configuration files for camera/ISP driver modules. Look for drivers related to ISPIF or image signal processing.
    Affected if The device uses a camera driver with ISPIF support and the kernel predates the December 2017 security updates.
  3. Check for ISPIF memory exposure
    Review /dev or /sys/class/video4linux entries for camera devices. Attempt to read or map camera-related memory regions if accessible (requires root).
    Affected if Userspace processes can access ISPIF base address memory regions that should be restricted to kernel-only.
  4. Audit camera subsystem permissions
    Check file permissions on /dev/video* devices and related camera driver nodes using ls -la. Verify which user/group can access them.
    Affected if Camera device nodes are accessible to unprivileged users or apps, increasing exposure to the information leak.
  5. Review kernel logs for address exposure
    Use adb shell to run dmesg or check /proc/kmsg for any exposed kernel addresses related to ISPIF or camera subsystem.
    Affected if Kernel logs show ISPIF base addresses visible to userspace, indicating the vulnerability is present.

The device is affected if it runs an unpatched Google Android version with a camera driver that exposes ISPIF base address to userspace and has a pre-December-2017 security patch level.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor security patches that address this camera driver information leak; update device firmware to the latest security patch level containing the fix for CVE-2017-15852.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,100
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2017-15852 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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