AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2018-5824

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-03
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
In Qualcomm Android for MSM, Firefox OS for MSM, and QRD Android with all Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel before security patch level 2018-04-05, while processing HTT_T2H_MSG_TYPE_RX_FLUSH or HTT_T2H_MSG_TYPE_RX_PN_IND messages, a buffer overflow can occur if the tid value obtained from the firmware is out of range.

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 Qualcomm's wireless driver (MSM) when processing HTT_T2H_MSG_TYPE_RX_FLUSH or HTT_T2H_MSG_TYPE_RX_PN_IND messages from firmware. The tid (traffic identifier) value received from firmware is not validated for bounds, allowing an out-of-range tid value to cause memory corruption.

MitigationApply the 2018-04-05 security patch level or later to the affected Android device, which contains the fix for proper tid validation in the Qualcomm wireless 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
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. Check Android Security Patch Level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell
    Affected if The patch level is earlier than April 5, 2018 (any date before 2018-04-05)
  2. Identify wireless driver module
    Run 'lsmod' or check '/sys/module/' for Qualcomm wireless (wlan) modules; on rooted devices, check 'getprop' for wlan.driver.name
    Affected if A Qualcomm MSM wlan driver module is loaded and the device has not been patched
  3. Verify device uses Qualcomm MSM chipset
    Check 'getprop ro.hardware' or 'getprop ro.board.platform' for Qualcomm MSM identifiers, or check 'lspci'/'lsusb' output on devices with accessible bus listings
    Affected if Device hardware is based on Qualcomm MSM and the security patch is unpatched
  4. Confirm wireless interface is active
    Check for active interface via 'ip link show' or 'iwconfig' looking for wlan0 or similar; run 'netstat -i' or check '/proc/net/wireless'
    Affected if The wireless driver is actively processing network traffic from firmware

The device is affected if it runs an Android version without the 2018-04-05 security patch and uses a Qualcomm MSM wireless driver that processes firmware messages.

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 the 2018-04-05 security patch level or later to the affected Android device, which contains the fix for proper tid validation in the Qualcomm wireless driver.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA5.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,080
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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-2018-5824 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