CVE-2014-9877 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
drivers/media/platform/msm/camera_v2/sensor/actuator/msm_actuator.c in the Qualcomm components in Android before 2016-08-05 on Nexus 5 and 7 (2013) devices mishandles a user-space pointer, which allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka Android internal bug 28768281 and Qualcomm internal bug CR547231.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/12/2022
The vulnerability described in CVE-2014-9877 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 being present in Android versions prior to the 2016-08-05 security patch release. The flaw resides in the msm_actuator.c file within the media platform driver subsystem, which controls actuator mechanisms responsible for camera lens focusing and other optical adjustments. This particular driver component operates at a low system level within the kernel space, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to elevate their privileges from user-level applications to system-level access.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper handling of user-space pointers within the kernel driver code. When a malicious application attempts to interact with the camera actuator functionality, the driver fails to properly validate or sanitize the pointer references passed from user space. This pointer validation failure creates a kernel memory corruption scenario where attacker-controlled data can influence kernel execution flow. The vulnerability manifests through a classic use-after-free or improper pointer dereference condition that allows arbitrary code execution within kernel context. According to CWE classification, this maps to CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow and CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read, both of which are fundamental memory safety issues that enable privilege escalation attacks. The flaw essentially allows an unprivileged user application to manipulate kernel memory structures through crafted inputs that should never reach kernel space in their raw form.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068: Exploitation for Privilege Escalation. Once exploited, attackers can gain full system-level privileges, effectively bypassing all Android security boundaries and user permissions. This enables malicious actors to perform actions such as installing persistent malware, accessing all user data, modifying system files, and establishing backdoors for continued access. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires only a crafted application to be installed and executed, making it highly exploitable in real-world scenarios where users might unknowingly download malicious software from untrusted sources. The vulnerability affects devices that were already in the field, meaning many users were exposed to this risk without awareness, as the patch was not automatically applied to existing devices in many cases.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-9877 primarily involve applying the official Android security patches released by Google and Qualcomm, which include kernel-level fixes that properly validate user-space pointers before processing them within kernel drivers. Organizations should implement comprehensive device management policies requiring regular security updates and patch deployment across all Android devices. Device manufacturers and carriers must ensure timely delivery of security updates to end users, particularly for legacy devices that may not receive extended support. Network monitoring solutions should be configured to detect suspicious application behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts, while application whitelisting policies can help prevent installation of untrusted applications. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of kernel address space layout randomization (KASLR) and other exploit mitigation techniques that make exploitation more difficult even when vulnerabilities exist. Security researchers and organizations should maintain continuous monitoring for similar driver-level vulnerabilities in the Qualcomm camera subsystem and other kernel components that handle user-space interactions.