AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2018-6271

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-02-13
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
NVIDIA Tegra OpenMax driver (libnvomx) contains a vulnerability in which the software delivers extra data with the buffer and does not properly validated the extra data, which may lead to denial of service or escalation of privileges. Android ID: A-80198474.

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 confidence

NVIDIA Tegra OpenMax driver (libnvomx) contains a buffer validation vulnerability where extra data delivered with a buffer is not properly validated, potentially allowing denial of service or privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the NVIDIA security patch for this vulnerability; until patched, minimize exposure by restricting untrusted applications' access to the OpenMax driver interface.

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
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 NVIDIA Tegra hardware presence
    Check /proc/cpuinfo for 'NVIDIA Tegra' or use 'getprop ro.hardware' to see the hardware identifier
    Affected if Device does not contain NVIDIA Tegra processor - not affected by this specific vulnerability
  2. Locate the libnvomx library
    Search for libnvomx.so in system directories such as /system/lib/ or /vendor/lib/
    Affected if The libnvomx library is not present on the device - vulnerability does not apply
  3. Verify OpenMax driver interface accessibility
    Check if the /dev/nvhost-ctrl or /dev/nvhost-vi interface nodes exist and are readable/writable by application processes
    Affected if OpenMax driver interface nodes are accessible to untrusted applications - attack surface is present
  4. Check application permissions to OpenMax driver
    Review SELinux policy or file permissions on /dev/nv* device nodes to determine if third-party apps can access the driver
    Affected if Untrusted applications have permission to interact with the OpenMax driver - potential for exploitation exists

Device is affected if it contains NVIDIA Tegra hardware with the libnvomx library present and the OpenMax driver interface is accessible to untrusted applications.

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 NVIDIA security patch for this vulnerability; until patched, minimize exposure by restricting untrusted applications' access to the OpenMax driver interface.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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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-2018-6271 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