CVE-2017-0746 in Android
Summary
by MITRE
A elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm ipa driver. Product: Android. Versions: Android kernel. Android ID: A-35467471. References: QC-CR#2029392.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/08/2021
The vulnerability CVE-2017-0746 represents a critical elevation of privilege flaw within the Qualcomm IPA (Internet Protocol Accelerator) driver component of the Android kernel ecosystem. This vulnerability specifically affects the handling of memory management operations within the IPA driver, which serves as a crucial interface for network packet processing and acceleration within Qualcomm-based mobile devices. The IPA driver operates at kernel level and is responsible for managing hardware acceleration for network traffic, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to escalate their privileges from unprivileged user contexts to full system-level access.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and memory handling within the IPA driver's ioctl (input/output control) interface. When user-space applications interact with the IPA driver through specific ioctl commands, the driver fails to properly validate the parameters passed in the ioctl structures. This validation gap allows malicious code to manipulate memory layout and overwrite critical kernel data structures, effectively enabling arbitrary code execution with kernel privileges. The flaw manifests as a buffer overflow condition that occurs during the processing of specific IPA configuration parameters, where the driver does not properly check bounds before copying user-supplied data into kernel memory regions. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-121 as a stack-based buffer overflow, and more specifically aligns with CWE-787 which addresses out-of-bounds writes in kernel space contexts.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-0746 is severe and far-reaching across the Android security landscape, particularly affecting devices running Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious applications that leverage the IPA driver's ioctl interface to achieve privilege escalation without requiring physical access or device rooting. Once successfully exploited, the attacker gains complete control over the device's kernel, enabling them to access all system resources, read sensitive data, modify system files, and potentially install persistent backdoors. The vulnerability affects all Android versions that utilize the affected Qualcomm kernel components, making it particularly dangerous as it impacts a substantial portion of the mobile device ecosystem. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps directly to ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers "Exploitation for Privilege Escalation" and T1059 which covers "Command and Scripting Interpreter" as attackers can leverage the elevated privileges to execute arbitrary commands and establish persistent access.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-0746 require both immediate patching and long-term architectural improvements to prevent similar vulnerabilities in kernel drivers. Qualcomm released security patches that address the buffer overflow conditions by implementing proper input validation and bounds checking within the IPA driver's ioctl handling functions. Device manufacturers should prioritize timely deployment of these patches through regular security updates, as the vulnerability remains exploitable in unpatched systems. Additionally, implementing kernel hardening measures such as stack canaries, kernel address space layout randomization, and read-only data sections can provide defense-in-depth protection. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of kernel driver security reviews and formal verification processes, particularly for components that handle user-space input through ioctl interfaces. Organizations should implement robust monitoring for suspicious kernel-level activity and consider employing exploit prevention mechanisms such as kernel module signing and runtime integrity checks to detect and prevent exploitation attempts.