Google has released the August 2016 Android Security Bulletin. Partners have had access to the warnings in this month’s bulletin since July 6, 2016 or earlier.
Google is continuing the split patch format for August, which means there are two patch dates that could arrive on your phone this month.
The August 1, 2016 patch contains major fixes for the Android OS that can be applied to every Android phone, and is the minimum security patch in order to be considered “current” with your security level.
The August 5, 2016 patch contains everything from the minimum patch as well as an extensive list of driver, component, and kernel-related patches aimed mainly at Nexus hardware. Google’s distinction between August 1 and August 5 allows manufacturers to more quickly release patches for OS-specific software concerns, which leads to more overall devices being secure.
The most severe of these issues is a Critical security vulnerability that could enable remote code execution on an affected device through multiple methods such as email, web browsing, and MMS when processing media files.
Alongside the bulletin, Google has released a security update to Nexus devices through an over-the-air (OTA) update. The Nexus firmware images have also been released to the Google Developer site. Source code patches for these issues will be released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository in the next 48 hours.
The tables below contains a list of security vulnerabilities, the Common Vulnerability and Exposures ID (CVE), the assessed severity, and whether or not Nexus devices are affected. The severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are disabled for development purposes or if successfully bypassed.
Security patch levels of 2016-08-01 or later must address the following issues.
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Nexus? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2016-3819, CVE-2016-3820, CVE-2016-3821 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in libjhead | CVE-2016-3822 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2016-3823, CVE-2016-3824, CVE-2016-3825, CVE-2016-3826 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2016-3827, CVE-2016-3828, CVE-2016-3829, CVE-2016-3830 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in system clock | CVE-2016-3831 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in framework APIs | CVE-2016-3832 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in S hell | CVE-2016-3833 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in OpenSSL | CVE-2016-2842 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in camera APIs | CVE-2016-3834 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2016-3835 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in SurfaceFlinger | CVE-2016-3836 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Wi-Fi | CVE-2016-3837 | Moderate | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in system UI | CVE-2016-3838 | Moderate | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Bluetooth | CVE-2016-3839 | Moderate | Yes |
Security patch levels of 2016-08-05 or later must address all of the 2016-08-01 issues as well as the following issues.
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Nexus? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Qualcomm Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2014-9902 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Conscrypt | CVE-2016-3840 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm components | CVE-2014-9863, CVE-2014-9864, CVE-2014-9865, CVE-2014-9866, CVE-2014-9867, CVE-2014-9868, CVE-2014-9869, CVE-2014-9870, CVE-2014-9871, CVE-2014-9872, CVE-2014-9873, CVE-2014-9874, CVE-2014-9875, CVE-2014-9876, CVE-2014-9877, CVE-2014-9878, CVE-2014-9879, CVE-2014-9880, CVE-2014-9881, CVE-2014-9882, CVE-2014-9883, CVE-2014-9884, CVE-2014-9885, CVE-2014-9886, CVE-2014-9887, CVE-2014-9888, CVE-2014-9889, CVE-2014-9890, CVE-2014-9891, CVE-2015-8937, CVE-2015-8938, CVE-2015-8939, CVE-2015-8940, CVE-2015-8941, CVE-2015-8942, CVE-2015-8943 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel networking component | CVE-2015-2686, CVE-2016-3841 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm GPU driver | CVE-2016-2504, CVE-2016-3842 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm performance component | CVE-2016-3843 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel | CVE-2016-3857 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel memory system | CVE-2015-1593, CVE-2016-3672 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel sound component | CVE-2016-2544, CVE-2016-2546, CVE-2014-9904 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel file system | CVE-2012-6701 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2016-3844 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel video driver | CVE-2016-3845 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Serial Peripheral Interface driver | CVE-2016-3846 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA media driver | CVE-2016-3847, CVE-2016-3848 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in ION driver | CVE-2016-3849 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm bootloader | CVE-2016-3850 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel performance subsystem | CVE-2016-3843 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in LG Electronics bootloader | CVE-2016-3851 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm components | CVE-2014-9892, CVE-2014-9893 CVE-2014-9894, CVE-2014-9895 CVE-2014-9896, CVE-2014-9897 CVE-2014-9898, CVE-2014-9899 CVE-2014-9900, CVE-2015-8944 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in kernel scheduler | CVE-2014-9903 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2016-3852 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in USB driver | CVE-2016-4482 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Qualcomm components | CVE-2014-9901 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Google Play services | CVE-2016-3853 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Framework APIs | CVE-2016-2497 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in kernel networking component | CVE-2016-4578 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in kernel sound component | CVE-2016-4569, CVE-2016-4578 | Moderate | Yes |
| Vulnerabilities in Qualcomm components | CVE-2016-3854, CVE-2016-3855, CVE-2016-3856 | High | No |
Android and Google Service Mitigations
This is a summary of the mitigations provided by the Android security platform and service protections such as SafetyNet. These capabilities reduce the likelihood that security vulnerabilities could be successfully exploited on Android.
- Exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult by enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform. We encourage all users to update to the latest version of Android where possible.
- The Android Security team actively monitors for abuse with Verify Apps and SafetyNet, which are designed to warn users about Potentially Harmful Applications. Verify Apps is enabled by default on devices with Google Mobile Services, and is especially important for users who install applications from outside of Google Play. Device rooting tools are prohibited within Google Play, but Verify Apps warns users when they attempt to install a detected rooting application, no matter where it comes from. Additionally, Verify Apps attempts to identify and block installation of known malicious applications that exploit a privilege escalation vulnerability. If such an application has already been installed, Verify Apps will notify the user and attempt to remove the detected application.
- As appropriate, Google Hangouts and Messenger applications do not automatically pass media to processes such as Mediaserver.
Full details of the July 2016 Android Security Bulletin are available here.
