CVE-2014-9868

Vulnerability

The vulnerability resides in the Qualcomm camera driver's msm_csiphy.c file within the drivers/media/platform/msm/camera_v2/sensor/csiphy/ path. A lack of proper validation of a user-supplied mask value allows an application to trigger a buffer overflow. This affects Android builds prior to the 2016-08-05 security patch level on Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013) devices. The bug is identified as Android internal ID 28749721 and Qualcomm internal CR511976 [1].

Exploitation

An attacker must first install a crafted application on the target device. No additional privileges or user interaction beyond installing the app are required. The application submits a malicious mask value to the camera CSIPHY driver through the device interface. The driver fails to properly bounds-check this mask before using it in a memory copy operation, leading to a buffer overflow [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation gives the attacker elevated privileges, allowing arbitrary code execution within the kernel context. This compromises the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the device, as the attacker can then install persistent malware, access sensitive data, or perform other unauthorized actions with system-level permissions [1].

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in the Android security bulletin released August 1, 2016. Device manufacturers and carriers roll out the fix via an over-the-air (OTA) update to build N6F27B (Nexus 6P) and similar patch-level builds for Nexus 5 and 7 (2013). Users should ensure their device's Android security patch level is dated August 5, 2016 or later. No workaround is available if the update is not installed [1].