CVE-2014-10045

Vulnerability

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Qualcomm Sahara boot component when parsing program headers. This affects Android devices with security patch levels before 2018-04-05 on the following Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Wear chipsets: IPQ4019, MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9615, MDM9625, MDM9635M, MDM9640, MDM9650, MDM9655, MSM8909W, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 400, SD 410/12, SD 615/16/SD 415, SD 820, and SDX20 [1]. The bug is triggered during the parsing of program headers in a boot image.

Exploitation

An attacker with local access to the device or the ability to flash a malicious boot image can exploit this vulnerability. The attacker would need to craft a specially designed boot image with malformed program headers that cause a buffer overflow when processed by the Sahara boot loader. No user interaction is required beyond the device booting from the malicious image.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the boot loader, potentially gaining elevated privileges over the device's normal operating system. This could lead to complete compromise of the device's confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as the attacker may bypass security mechanisms enforced by the Android kernel and higher layers.

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in the Android security patch level of 2018-04-05 or later [1]. Users should ensure their devices receive this update. No workaround is available for unpatched devices; updating to the latest security patch is the only mitigation.