CVE-2016-2446 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
The NVIDIA media driver in Android before 2016-05-01 on Nexus 9 devices allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka internal bug 27441354.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/27/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-2446 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the NVIDIA media driver component of Android operating systems. This vulnerability specifically affected Nexus 9 devices running Android versions prior to the 2016-05-01 security patch release, creating a significant attack vector for malicious actors seeking to elevate their system privileges. The flaw resides in the media driver implementation that processes multimedia content, particularly within the hardware acceleration framework that NVIDIA provides for mobile devices. The vulnerability stems from improper input validation and memory management within the driver's kernel-level components, allowing crafted applications to exploit memory corruption issues that ultimately lead to privilege escalation.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-119, which addresses "Improper Access to Memory" and specifically relates to buffer overflows and memory corruption issues that can be exploited to gain elevated privileges. The NVIDIA media driver in question handles multimedia processing tasks including video decoding and encoding operations that require direct hardware access and kernel-level operations. Attackers could craft malicious applications that leverage improper bounds checking within the driver's memory handling routines, potentially causing buffer overflows or use-after-free conditions that allow arbitrary code execution in kernel space. The exploitation process typically involves triggering specific multimedia operations that cause the driver to process malformed input data, leading to memory corruption that can be leveraged to execute code with system-level privileges.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-2446 extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it provides attackers with complete control over affected devices. Once successfully exploited, the vulnerability allows malicious actors to bypass Android's security model entirely, enabling them to access sensitive system data, modify device configurations, install unauthorized applications, and potentially monitor user activities. This vulnerability particularly affects Nexus 9 devices because they were among the first Android devices to feature NVIDIA's Tegra K1 processor with integrated media acceleration capabilities. The attack surface is further expanded due to the nature of media processing applications, which often require extensive hardware access and can be triggered through various legitimate application interfaces. The vulnerability also intersects with ATT&CK technique T1068, which covers 'Exploitation for Privilege Escalation', and T1059, covering 'Command and Scripting Interpreter', as successful exploitation would enable attackers to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-2446 primarily focus on applying the official security patches released by Google and NVIDIA, which address the underlying memory corruption issues within the media driver components. Device administrators should immediately update affected Nexus 9 devices to Android security patch level 2016-05-01 or later, which includes fixes for the driver's memory handling routines and input validation mechanisms. Organizations managing fleets of affected devices should implement comprehensive patch management protocols to ensure all vulnerable systems receive timely updates. Additionally, network administrators can implement monitoring solutions to detect potential exploitation attempts by monitoring for unusual system activity patterns that might indicate privilege escalation attempts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of secure coding practices in kernel-level drivers, particularly regarding input validation and memory management, and serves as a reminder of the critical security implications of hardware-accelerated multimedia processing components in mobile operating systems.