CVE-2017-9681
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 before 2017-08-05 on Qualcomm MSM, Firefox OS for MSM, QRD Android, and all Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel, if kernel memory address is passed from userspace through iris_vidioc_s_ext_ctrls ioctl, it will print kernel address data. A user could set it to an arbitrary kernel address, hence information disclosure (for kernel) could 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 confidenceThe iris_vidioc_s_ext_ctrls ioctl handler in the iris camera driver (Qualcomm MSM) contains debug print statements that output kernel memory addresses passed from userspace. An attacker can pass arbitrary kernel addresses to leak kernel memory layout, enabling KASLR bypass.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 MSM iris camera driverCheck /proc/cmdline or kernel boot logs for 'iris' or 'vidioc_s_ext_ctrls' references, or look for video4linux device nodes under /dev/video* that may be associated with the iris camera driver.Affected if The device runs on Qualcomm MSM hardware with an iris camera driver present in the kernel.
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Check the Android kernel versionRun 'uname -r' or examine /proc/version to retrieve the kernel version string.Affected if The kernel version predates the July 2017 security patch level and has not received the specific Qualcomm fix for address leakage in the iris driver.
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Verify the video device interface existsList contents of /dev/video* directories to see if camera-related video device nodes are present.Affected if The iris video device node (typically /dev/video0 on affected devices) exists and is accessible, enabling interaction with the vulnerable ioctl handler.
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Check for presence of the vulnerable ioctl handlerUse 'grep -r iris /sys/module' or examine kernel module loading logs for the iris camera module.Affected if The iris camera kernel module is loaded, indicating the code path containing the debug print statements that leak kernel addresses is present.
The device is affected if it uses a Qualcomm MSM iris camera driver with an unpatched kernel that still contains the debug print statements in the vidioc_s_ext_ctrls ioctl handler, enabling kernel address leakage.
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 security patches from Qualcomm/Android to address the kernel address leakage in the iris camera driver. Until patched, monitor for exploitation attempts targeting the video device interface.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-9681 — 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-2017-9681 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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