CVE-2016-10462

Vulnerability

In Android before the 2018-04-05 security patch level, an improperly configured Access Control policy in multiple Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs (SD 410/12, SD 425, SD 427, SD 430, SD 435, SD 450, SD 615/16/SD 415, SD 625, SD 650/52, SD 808, SD 810, SD 820, SD 820A, SD 835, SDM630, SDM636, SDM660, and Snapdragon_High_Med_2016) grants the HLOS (High-Level Operating System) access to Slimbus, GPU, and GIC resources [1]. The affected Android build is prior to the April 2018 security patch level [1].

Exploitation

An attacker with local execution capability on the device can exploit this misconfigured policy to gain unauthorized access to Slimbus, GPU, and GIC resources. No additional permissions or privileges are required beyond the ability to execute code within the HLOS environment [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to access sensitive resources (Slimbus, GPU, GIC) that should be restricted, potentially leading to information disclosure, denial of service, or privilege escalation from the HLOS context [1]. The full scope of compromise depends on the specific resource accessed, but at a minimum it violates the intended isolation between the HLOS and lower-level hardware components.

Mitigation

The issue is fixed in the Android April 2018 security patch level [1]. Devices that have received the 2018-04-05 or later security patch are no longer vulnerable. Users should ensure their device security patch level is updated to April 2018 or later [1].