CVE-2016-6526 in Note
Summary
by MITRE
The SpamCall Activity component in Telecom application on Samsung Note device L(5.0/5.1) and M(6.0) allows attackers to cause a denial of service (crash and reboot) or possibly gain privileges via a malformed serializable object.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/13/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-6526 resides within the SpamCall Activity component of Samsung's telecommunications application, specifically affecting devices running on android versions 5.0/5.1 and 6.0. This flaw represents a critical security weakness that could be exploited by malicious actors to disrupt normal device operations or potentially escalate privileges. The vulnerability manifests through improper handling of serialized objects within the application's activity component, creating a pathway for attackers to manipulate the device's operational state through crafted malicious inputs.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and sanitization within the SpamCall Activity processing logic. When the application receives a malformed serializable object, it fails to properly validate or sanitize the incoming data before processing. This lack of proper validation creates a condition where an attacker can construct a specially crafted serialized object that, when processed by the vulnerable component, triggers unexpected behavior within the application's memory management or execution flow. The vulnerability falls under the category of deserialization flaws that are commonly associated with CWE-502, which specifically addresses unsafe deserialization of untrusted data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service conditions, presenting a potential privilege escalation vector that could allow attackers to gain elevated system privileges. When the malicious serialized object is processed, it can cause the application to crash and subsequently reboot the device, creating a denial of service scenario that disrupts normal user operations. However, the more concerning aspect involves the possibility of privilege escalation, where an attacker might be able to leverage this vulnerability to execute code with higher privileges than initially granted to the application. This represents a significant threat to device security and user privacy, as it could potentially allow unauthorized access to sensitive information or system resources.
Attackers exploiting this vulnerability would typically craft malicious serialized objects designed to trigger specific memory corruption patterns or unexpected execution paths within the SpamCall Activity component. The exploitation process would likely involve sending specially crafted data through the telecommunications application's interface, potentially via SMS or other communication channels that the application processes. This attack vector aligns with ATT&CK techniques related to privilege escalation and denial of service operations, where adversaries seek to compromise system integrity and availability through application-level vulnerabilities. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe on Samsung Note devices due to their specific implementation of the telecommunications framework and the targeted nature of the SpamCall Activity component.
The recommended mitigation strategies for this vulnerability include immediate firmware updates from Samsung to address the deserialization flaw in the SpamCall Activity component. Organizations and users should prioritize applying security patches as soon as they become available through official Samsung update channels. Additionally, network administrators should consider implementing network-level controls to monitor and filter suspicious communication patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and secure deserialization practices in mobile application development, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security testing of all serialization mechanisms within mobile applications. Security teams should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual application crash patterns or reboot cycles that might indicate exploitation attempts.