CVE-2017-8203
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 · uneditedThe Bastet Driver of Nova 2 Plus,Nova 2 Huawei smart phones with software of Versions earlier than BAC-AL00C00B173,Versions earlier than PIC-AL00C00B173 has a use after free (UAF) vulnerability. An attacker can convince a user to install a malicious application which has a high privilege to exploit this vulnerability, Successful exploitation may cause arbitrary code execution.
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 exists in the Bastet Driver kernel component of Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus smartphones running software versions prior to BAC-AL00C173 and PIC-AL00C173. The vulnerability can be exploited by a malicious privileged application to achieve arbitrary code execution in kernel context.
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< pic-al00c00b173< bac-al00c00b173CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify device modelGo to Settings > About Phone > Model Number (or use `getprop ro.product.model` via ADB shell)Affected if Device is not Huawei Nova 2 or Nova 2 Plus - these are the only affected models
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Check firmware versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version (or use `getprop ro.build.version.emui` or `getprop ro.flash.version` via ADB shell) to find the build numberAffected if Firmware version is below PIC-AL00C173 for Nova 2 or below BAC-AL00C173 for Nova 2 Plus - versions below these thresholds contain the vulnerable Bastet Driver
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Verify Bastet Driver presenceCheck if the bastet kernel module is loaded: `ls /sys/module/ | grep bastet` or examine kernel messages with `dmesg | grep -i bastet` via ADB shellAffected if The Bastet Driver module is loaded and the firmware version is in the vulnerable range - the use-after-free exists in this specific driver component
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Audit privileged applicationsReview installed applications with root or system privileges via ADB: `pm list packages -s` and check for any unrecognized or recently installed privileged appsAffected if A malicious privileged application is present - the vulnerability requires such an app to trigger the use-after-free in the Bastet Driver
A user is affected if they have a Huawei Nova 2 or Nova 2 Plus device running firmware versions PIC-AL00C173 or BAC-AL00C173 (respectively) with the vulnerable Bastet Driver and a potential malicious privileged app present.
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 dataUsers should update their device firmware to the patched version (BAC-AL00C173 or PIC-AL00C173 and later). Avoid installing applications from untrusted sources, as the exploit requires a high-privilege malicious app.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation40.0 h
- Testing24.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-8203 — 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-2017-8203 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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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.
- 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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