CVE-2015-5524

Vulnerability

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the datablock_write function on Samsung mobile devices running Android KK (4.4) and later software, as identified in December 2015 (Samsung ID SVE-2015-4018). The issue occurs because the amount of received data is not validated before being written to a buffer, allowing an attacker to cause a memory corruption. The affected software versions are those prior to the December 2015 security update [1].

Exploitation

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to send a crafted payload that exceeds the expected size of the buffer in the datablock_write function. The device must be reachable by the attacker to deliver the oversized data, but no authentication or user interaction is explicitly required beyond normal data reception. The details of the exact trigger sequence have not been publicly disclosed beyond the description [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation of the buffer overflow could lead to memory corruption, potentially allowing an attacker to cause a denial of service or achieve arbitrary code execution on the device. The impact depends on the memory layout and mitigations present in the affected kernel or system libraries, but Samsung’s advisory lists it as a security vulnerability [1].

Mitigation

Samsung released security updates in December 2015 to address this vulnerability. Users should apply the latest firmware updates provided through the Samsung Mobile Security update process. No workarounds were published for unpatched devices. The CVE is not listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog as of the publication date [1].