CVE-2016-6183 in Honor 4C
Summary
by MITRE
The Camera driver in Huawei Honor 4C smartphones with software CHM-UL00C00 before CHM-UL00C00B564, CHM-TL00C01 before CHM-TL00C01B564, and CHM-TL00C00 before CHM-TL00HC00B564 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (system crash) or gain privileges via a crafted application, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-6180, CVE-2016-6181, CVE-2016-6182, and CVE-2016-6184.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/15/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-6183 affects the camera driver component in Huawei Honor 4C smartphones running specific firmware versions. This issue represents a critical security flaw within the device's operating system that enables malicious actors to exploit the camera driver functionality to either crash the system or escalate their privileges to higher security levels. The vulnerability specifically impacts devices with software versions CHM-UL00C00 before CHM-UL00C00B564, CHM-TL00C01 before CHM-TL00C01B564, and CHM-TL00C00 before CHM-TL00HC00B564, indicating a targeted issue affecting a particular range of firmware releases. The flaw operates through a crafted application that can be designed to manipulate the camera driver in ways that were not anticipated by the system's security architecture, demonstrating a failure in input validation and memory management within the driver component.
This vulnerability falls under the category of privilege escalation and denial of service conditions, where attackers can leverage the camera driver's improper handling of malicious inputs to gain unauthorized access to system resources. The technical implementation likely involves buffer overflows, memory corruption, or improper access controls within the camera driver's code structure. The vulnerability is distinct from other related issues such as CVE-2016-6180 through CVE-2016-6184, indicating that each represents a separate attack vector or exploitation method that targets different aspects of the system's security model. The camera driver's exposure to such attacks suggests inadequate sandboxing mechanisms and insufficient validation of input parameters that could be manipulated by malicious applications.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-6183 extends beyond simple system instability to potentially enable full system compromise. When exploited, this vulnerability can result in complete system crashes that render the device unusable until a reboot occurs, creating a denial of service condition that affects user productivity and device availability. More concerning is the potential for privilege escalation, which could allow attackers to execute code with elevated system privileges, effectively bypassing normal security boundaries and potentially accessing sensitive user data or system resources. The implications for user privacy and data security are significant, as successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to personal information stored on the device. This vulnerability particularly affects mobile devices where users frequently store sensitive personal and financial information, making the potential attack surface more concerning from a threat modeling perspective.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-6183 should prioritize immediate firmware updates from Huawei to address the underlying driver vulnerability. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest available software versions that contain patches for this specific issue. System administrators and security teams should implement monitoring solutions to detect potential exploitation attempts and maintain updated threat intelligence feeds to identify malicious applications that may attempt to leverage this vulnerability. From a defensive perspective, the vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and secure coding practices within device drivers, aligning with CWE categories related to improper input validation and memory safety issues. The ATT&CK framework would categorize this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques and system compromise tactics, emphasizing the need for layered security approaches that include application whitelisting, runtime application control, and comprehensive endpoint protection solutions to prevent exploitation of such driver-level vulnerabilities.