CVE-2018-9370
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 download.c there is a special mode allowing user to download data into memory and causing possible memory corruptions due to missing bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation.
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 confidenceA missing bounds check in download.c allows a special mode to write data into memory without proper validation, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited for local privilege escalation. User interaction is required for exploitation.
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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm the target system is Google AndroidIdentify the operating system. This vulnerability affects only Google Android. Check via 'getprop ro.build.fingerprint' or system settings about phone.Affected if The system is running any version of Google Android.
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Verify the vulnerable download component existsThis vulnerability is in download.c within the download-to-memory functionality. On Android, this component is part of the system services handling downloads. There is no user-accessible path to directly inspect this file.Affected if The device runs Google Android - the vulnerable code is present in all versions.
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Determine if the special download-to-memory mode is usedThe vulnerability requires a special mode that writes download data directly to memory without proper bounds checking. This is an internal system feature triggered during certain download operations.Affected if The device performs download operations that utilize the download-to-memory functionality - this is a built-in system capability present in all Android versions.
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Check for user-initiated download operationsExploitation requires user interaction. This means a user must initiate or approve a download that triggers the vulnerable code path.Affected if A user can be tricked into initiating a download operation that exercises the vulnerable code path.
If the device runs Google Android of any version and can perform download operations, the environment contains the vulnerable code and may be exploitable if user interaction can be induced.
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 patches for CVE-2018-9370 which add proper bounds checking to the download-to-memory functionality in download.c.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-9370 — 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-2018-9370 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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