Honor 5c FirmwareOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2017-8211

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-11-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
The driver of honor 5C,honor 6x Huawei smart phones with software of versions earlier than NEM-AL10C00B356, versions earlier than Berlin-L21HNC432B360 have a buffer overflow vulnerability due to the lack of parameter validation. An attacker tricks a user into installing a malicious APP which has the root privilege of the Android system, the APP can send a specific parameter to the driver of the smart phone, causing a system reboot or 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 · high confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the kernel driver for Honor 5C and Honor 6X smartphones due to insufficient parameter validation. A malicious Android application with root privileges can send specific parameters to the vulnerable driver, triggering the overflow and causing either system reboot or arbitrary code execution with kernel-level privileges.

MitigationUpdate the device firmware to a version newer than NEM-AL10C00B356 for NEM-AL10 and Berlin-L21HNC432B360 for Berlin-L21 to receive the vendor patch that adds proper parameter validation to the driver.

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
Honor 5c FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< nem-al10c00b356
Honor 6x FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< berlin-l21hnc432b360

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify device model
    Check device model number in Settings > About Phone. Look for NEM-AL10 (Honor 5C) or Berlin-L21 (Honor 6X).
    Affected if Device is not Honor 5C (NEM-AL10) or Honor 6X (Berlin-L21) - not affected.
  2. Check firmware version on Honor 5C
    For NEM-AL10 devices, go to Settings > About Phone > Version and compare the build number to nem-al10c00b356. On device, run: getprop ro.build.display.id
    Affected if Firmware version is less than nem-al10c00b356 on NEM-AL10 - potentially affected.
  3. Check firmware version on Honor 6X
    For Berlin-L21 devices, go to Settings > About Phone > Version and compare the build number to berlin-l21hnc432b360. On device, run: getprop ro.build.display.id
    Affected if Firmware version is less than berlin-l21hnc432b360 on Berlin-L21 - potentially affected.
  4. Verify kernel driver presence
    Check if the vulnerable kernel driver module is loaded. Run: lsmod | grep -i <driver_name> or check /proc/modules. Note: The specific driver name is not disclosed in the advisory.
    Affected if Driver is present and loaded on an affected firmware version - likely vulnerable.

Device is affected only if it is an Honor 5C (NEM-AL10) or Honor 6X (Berlin-L21) running firmware below the specified thresholds AND the vulnerable kernel driver is loaded.

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

Update the device firmware to a version newer than NEM-AL10C00B356 for NEM-AL10 and Berlin-L21HNC432B360 for Berlin-L21 to receive the vendor patch that adds proper parameter validation to the driver.

Fix this in Honor 5c Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2017-8211 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
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data