CVE-2014-9782 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
drivers/media/platform/msm/camera_v2/sensor/actuator/msm_actuator.c in the Qualcomm components in Android before 2016-07-05 on Nexus 5 and 7 (2013) devices does not validate direction and step parameters, which allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka Android internal bug 28431531 and Qualcomm internal bug CR511349.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/01/2022
The vulnerability described in CVE-2014-9782 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the Qualcomm camera driver components of Android operating systems. This issue specifically affects devices including the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013) models, with the vulnerability remaining unpatched until the Android security update cycle of July 2016. The flaw resides in the msm_actuator.c file within the media platform driver stack, which controls the autofocus mechanisms of mobile camera systems. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the actuator driver that manages the mechanical movement of camera lenses for focusing purposes.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the absence of proper parameter validation for direction and step parameters within the actuator driver interface. When an application attempts to control the camera autofocus mechanism, the driver fails to validate whether the requested direction and step values are within acceptable ranges or valid states. This lack of validation creates an opportunity for malicious applications to submit crafted parameters that can manipulate the driver's internal state machine. The vulnerability falls under CWE-129, which specifically addresses improper validation of array indices, and represents a classic case of input sanitization failure in kernel-level drivers. Attackers can exploit this weakness by constructing malicious applications that send invalid step and direction parameters to the camera actuator driver, potentially causing memory corruption or privilege escalation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows a malicious application with standard user privileges to escalate its privileges to kernel-level access. This privilege escalation occurs because the actuator driver operates with elevated permissions to control hardware components, and the missing validation allows attackers to manipulate the driver's behavior in ways that could compromise the entire system. The attack vector requires a local application to be installed on the device, making it particularly dangerous in environments where users may unknowingly install malicious applications. This vulnerability directly maps to ATT&CK technique T1068, which describes the use of local privilege escalation techniques, and could potentially enable attackers to bypass Android's security model entirely.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve applying the relevant Android security patches released in July 2016, which corrected the parameter validation issues within the camera driver components. System administrators and device manufacturers should ensure that all affected devices receive the appropriate firmware updates, particularly those running Android versions prior to the patched releases. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of input validation in kernel drivers and demonstrates the critical need for comprehensive security testing of hardware abstraction layers. Organizations should implement application whitelisting policies and maintain strict control over application installation on mobile devices to prevent exploitation. Additionally, regular security audits of device driver code should be conducted to identify similar validation gaps that could lead to privilege escalation vulnerabilities. The fix implemented by Qualcomm and Google involved adding proper bounds checking and parameter validation to ensure that all direction and step values passed to the actuator driver are within acceptable ranges before any hardware manipulation occurs.