CVE-2016-6752 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
An information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm components including the GPU driver, power driver, SMSM Point-to-Point driver, and sound driver in Android before 2016-11-05 could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. This issue is rated as Moderate because it first requires compromising a privileged process. Android ID: A-31498159. References: Qualcomm QC-CR#987051.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2022
This vulnerability represents a significant information disclosure flaw affecting multiple Qualcomm driver components within Android systems prior to the 2016-11-05 security patch. The issue manifests in the GPU driver, power driver, SMSM Point-to-Point driver, and sound driver, creating a pathway for local malicious applications to access data beyond their intended permission levels. The vulnerability's classification as moderate severity reflects its requirement for initial compromise of a privileged process, yet this prerequisite does not diminish its operational impact on system security. The affected drivers operate at critical system levels where unauthorized data access could potentially expose sensitive system information, configuration details, or communication protocols.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access controls within the Qualcomm driver components, allowing malicious applications to bypass normal permission boundaries. This flaw particularly affects the GPU driver which manages graphics processing and memory allocation, the power driver responsible for system power management and resource allocation, the SMSM Point-to-Point driver handling secure message passing between system components, and the sound driver managing audio processing and related system resources. These drivers typically operate with elevated privileges and contain sensitive data structures that should remain protected from unauthorized access.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a serious risk for local privilege escalation scenarios where an attacker first compromises a privileged process and then leverages this information disclosure to gather additional system information. The impact extends beyond simple data exposure as the leaked information could potentially be used to identify system configurations, memory layouts, or communication patterns that aid in further exploitation. Attackers could use the disclosed information to craft more sophisticated attacks or to understand system behavior for privilege escalation purposes, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in targeted attack scenarios.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-200 (Information Exposure) and represents a classic example of improper access control in kernel-level drivers. From the ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and credential access through system-level information gathering. The requirement for initial compromise of a privileged process means that this vulnerability would typically be exploited as part of a multi-stage attack where the attacker first gains a foothold and then uses the information disclosure to enhance their access. Organizations should implement immediate patching of affected systems and consider monitoring for suspicious activity patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The fix required involves updating the Qualcomm driver components to properly enforce access controls and prevent unauthorized data access across all affected driver modules.
This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of driver security in mobile operating systems where kernel-level components directly control hardware access and system resources. The fact that multiple driver types across different system functions contain similar access control flaws suggests a systemic issue in the Qualcomm driver implementation that required comprehensive remediation across all affected components. System administrators should prioritize deployment of the Android security patches released in November 2016 to address this vulnerability and prevent potential exploitation by malicious actors seeking to leverage system-level access for further compromise.