CVE-2016-3846 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
The Serial Peripheral Interface driver in Android before 2016-08-05 on Nexus 5X and 6P devices allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka internal bug 28817378.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/20/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-3846 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the Serial Peripheral Interface driver component of Android operating systems. This security weakness specifically affected Nexus 5X and 6P devices running Android versions prior to the 2016-08-05 security patch release. The flaw resides in the kernel-level driver responsible for managing serial peripheral communications, creating an avenue for malicious applications to execute unauthorized code with elevated privileges. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and improper access controls within the SPI driver implementation, allowing crafted applications to manipulate driver interfaces and bypass normal security boundaries.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a carefully constructed malicious application that leverages the flawed SPI driver to escalate privileges from regular user-level processes to kernel-level operations. Attackers can manipulate the driver's behavior by sending specially crafted commands or data structures that exploit buffer overflows, improper memory handling, or race conditions within the driver code. This privilege escalation allows the malicious application to gain root access to the device, enabling complete system compromise and unauthorized access to all device resources, user data, and sensitive information stored on the device. The flaw operates at the kernel level, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses standard Android security mechanisms and application sandboxing controls.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-3846 extends beyond individual device compromise to potentially enable large-scale attacks against vulnerable Android installations. Once exploited, the vulnerability provides attackers with complete control over affected devices, allowing for data exfiltration, persistent backdoor installation, and the ability to manipulate device functionality. The affected Nexus 5X and 6P devices represent a significant portion of the Android user base at the time, making this vulnerability particularly concerning from a threat actor perspective. The vulnerability also demonstrates the importance of secure driver development practices and the potential consequences of insufficient input validation in kernel-level components, as highlighted by CWE-121 which addresses buffer overflow conditions in kernel drivers.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-3846 primarily focus on applying the official Android security patches released on 2016-08-05, which address the underlying driver implementation flaws. System administrators and device users should prioritize immediate patch deployment to protect against exploitation attempts. Additional defensive measures include implementing application whitelisting policies to prevent installation of untrusted applications, monitoring for suspicious privilege escalation activities, and maintaining up-to-date security configurations. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and kernel exploitation methods, specifically targeting the T1068 privilege escalation tactic and T1059 command and scripting interpreter techniques. Organizations should also consider network-based detection measures to identify potential exploitation attempts and implement proper security monitoring to detect unauthorized privilege escalation activities within their Android device management environments.