CVE-2015-7718 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
mediaserver in Android 5.x before 5.1.1 LMY48T and 6.0 before 2015-10-01 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (process crash) via unspecified vectors, aka internal bug 22278703, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-6605.
VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/13/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-7718 affects the mediaserver component in Android operating systems versions 5.x prior to 5.1.1 LMY48T and Android 6.0 prior to the 2015-10-01 security patch release. This represents a critical denial of service flaw that specifically targets the media server daemon responsible for handling multimedia operations within the Android framework. The mediaserver process serves as a central hub for media processing activities including audio and video decoding, encoding, and playback operations across various Android applications and system components.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from unspecified vectors that allow remote attackers to trigger process crashes within the mediaserver daemon. While the exact exploitation mechanism remains undocumented in the public CVE description, such vulnerabilities typically arise from improper input validation, buffer overflows, or memory corruption issues within multimedia processing libraries. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the system level through the mediaserver service, which is essential for normal device operation and multimedia functionality. This flaw enables attackers to disrupt device functionality by causing the mediaserver process to terminate unexpectedly, thereby rendering multimedia services unavailable.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant disruption for Android users and organizations relying on affected devices. When the mediaserver crashes, it affects not only individual multimedia applications but also system-level services that depend on media processing capabilities. The denial of service condition can be exploited repeatedly, potentially leading to persistent device instability and user experience degradation. The vulnerability's classification as a different issue from CVE-2015-6605 indicates it represents a distinct attack surface, suggesting that multiple vulnerabilities exist within the same subsystem. This particular flaw demonstrates the complexity of multimedia processing components in mobile operating systems, where improper handling of media files or streams can lead to system-wide instability.
The security implications extend beyond simple service disruption as this vulnerability could be leveraged as part of broader attack campaigns targeting Android devices. According to CWE classification systems, this vulnerability likely relates to CWE-122, which deals with buffer overflow conditions in heap-based memory management, or CWE-125, which addresses out-of-bounds read conditions. The ATT&CK framework would categorize this as a system service disruption technique where adversaries target critical system processes to create operational interference. Organizations should prioritize patching affected Android versions as the vulnerability exists in multiple release branches and could be exploited by adversaries without requiring elevated privileges. The patching timeline for this vulnerability was critical as it was released in October 2015, indicating that the window for exploitation was relatively brief but significant for devices that remained unpatched. This vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date mobile device security patches and demonstrates how multimedia processing components can serve as attack vectors for broader system compromise.