CVE-2018-6241
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 · uneditedNVIDIA Tegra Gralloc module contains a vulnerability in driver in which it does not validate input parameter of the registerbuffer API, which may lead to arbitrary code execution, denial of service, or escalation of privileges. Android ID: A-62540032 Severity Rating: High Version: N/A.
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 confidenceNVIDIA Tegra Gralloc module driver fails to validate input parameters in the registerbuffer API, allowing malformed or malicious buffer requests to pass unchecked. This input validation failure can be exploited to corrupt memory, achieve arbitrary code execution, cause denial of service, or escalate privileges to kernel/driver level.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify NVIDIA Tegra hardware presenceCheck /proc/cpuinfo or use 'getprop ro.hardware' or 'cat /proc/device-tree/compatible' to see if the device uses an NVIDIA Tegra chipsetAffected if Device does NOT have NVIDIA Tegra hardware - the vulnerability only applies to Tegra-based systems
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Confirm Android OS versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if While all Android versions are listed as affected, this confirms the OS context for the vulnerability
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Verify gralloc module is loadedCheck /proc/modules or use 'lsmod' to see if a gralloc module is currently loaded in memoryAffected if No gralloc module found - without the driver loaded, the vulnerable code path may not be active
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Check for registerbuffer API exposureInspect /dev/ or /sys/class/ for graphics buffer device nodes (often in /dev/graphics/ or /d/ and check if registerbuffer function is accessible via debugging interfaces like /sys/kernel/debug or adb shell accessAffected if Cannot verify API accessibility - the vulnerability requires the registerbuffer API to be callable by untrusted code
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Assess attack surface exposureReview if untrusted applications can access graphics buffer functionality - check for SELinux policies restricting /dev/graphics/* and gralloc device permissions via 'ls -la /dev/graphics/' or 'getprop ro.gralloc.*'Affected if Gralloc devices are widely accessible without SELinux restrictions - broader attack surface exists
A user is affected if they are running Android on NVIDIA Tegra hardware with the gralloc module loaded and the registerbuffer API accessible to potentially malicious buffer requests.
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-provided patches for NVIDIA Tegra devices; until patch available, minimize exposure by restricting access to gralloc functionality and avoiding untrusted applications with graphics buffer access.
- 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-2018-6241 — 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-2018-6241 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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