CVE-2016-8761 in Huawei
Summary
by MITRE
Video driver in Huawei P9 phones with software versions before EVA-AL10C00B192 and Huawei Honor 6 phones with software versions before H60-L02_6.10.1 has a stack overflow vulnerability, which allows attackers to crash the system or escalate user privilege.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/24/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-8761 represents a critical stack overflow flaw within the video driver component of specific Huawei smartphone models including the P9 and Honor 6 devices. This vulnerability exists in firmware versions prior to EVA-AL10C00B192 for P9 models and H60-L02_6.10.1 for Honor 6 devices, creating a persistent security weakness that affects millions of mobile devices worldwide. The stack overflow condition occurs when the video driver processes malformed input data, leading to unpredictable behavior in the device's operating system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the video driver module, which fails to properly sanitize data structures before processing them in memory. This flaw directly maps to CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions where insufficient bounds checking allows attackers to overwrite adjacent memory locations on the stack. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it exists at a low-level driver interface that has direct access to system resources and memory management functions. When exploited, the stack overflow can cause the device to crash or potentially allow privilege escalation from user-level processes to system-level privileges, effectively compromising the entire device security model.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-8761 extends beyond simple system instability to represent a significant threat to mobile device security and user privacy. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on affected devices, potentially gaining root access to the Android operating system and accessing sensitive user data including personal communications, financial information, and authentication credentials. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal privileges and can be achieved through carefully crafted media files or network-based attacks that trigger the video driver processing. This makes it particularly dangerous in mobile environments where users frequently interact with untrusted content and where the attack surface includes multimedia applications, web browsers, and file sharing mechanisms.
Security researchers have classified this vulnerability as a critical threat within the mobile security landscape, with implications that align with ATT&CK technique T1068 which describes local privilege escalation techniques. The vulnerability demonstrates how driver-level flaws in mobile operating systems can create persistent backdoors for attackers, as the video driver operates with elevated privileges and direct hardware access. Mitigation strategies should include immediate firmware updates from Huawei to patch the affected video driver components, along with network-based security controls such as content filtering and sandboxing of multimedia processing. Organizations and individuals should also implement comprehensive mobile device management policies that enforce automatic security updates and monitor for exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of secure coding practices in mobile driver development and the need for thorough security testing of low-level system components before deployment in consumer devices.