CVE-2016-10283

Vulnerability

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver on Android kernels 3.10 and 3.18. The flaw is triggered when a local malicious application, after first compromising a privileged process, interacts with the Wi-Fi driver's functionality. The specific code path is reachable when the attacker-controlled application invokes a driver ioctl or similar interface without proper validation. [1]

Exploitation

To exploit, an attacker must have a local malicious application installed. The attacker must first compromise a privileged process (e.g., system server) to gain the necessary permissions to interact with the Wi-Fi driver. Then, the application can send crafted inputs to the driver, leading to kernel memory corruption. The exact steps involve invoking a driver function that does not properly check bounds or permissions. [1]

Impact

Successful exploitation grants arbitrary code execution within the kernel context, resulting in a complete compromise of the Android device. The attacker gains elevated privileges (root-level access) and can perform any operation, including installing apps, accessing data, or modifying system settings. [1]

Mitigation

The vulnerability is patched in the Android Security Bulletin for May 2017. Users should update their devices to the latest security patch level. No workaround is available. Devices with kernels 3.10 or 3.18 are affected. [1]