Google has released the January 2017Â Android Security Bulletin. Partners have had access to the warnings in this month’s bulletin since December 5, 2016 or earlier.
The January bulletin has two security patch levels to provide Android partners with the flexibility to more quickly fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices.
2017-01-01: Partial security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2017-01-01 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
2017-01-05: Complete security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2017-01-01 and 2017-01-05 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
Supported Google devices will receive a single OTA update with the January 05, 2017 security patch level
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 have released a security update to Google devices through an over-the-air (OTA) update. The Google device firmware images have also been released to the Google Developer site. Security patch levels of January 05, 2017 or later address all of these issues.
The tables below contains a list of security vulnerabilities, the Common Vulnerability and Exposures ID (CVE), the assessed severity, and whether or not Google 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 2017-01-01 or later must address the following issues.
[table style=”table-striped”]
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Google devices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0381 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in c-ares | CVE-2016-5180 | High | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Framesequence | CVE-2017-0382 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Framework APIs | CVE-2017-0383 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0384, CVE-2017-0385 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in libnl | CVE-2017-0386 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0387 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in External Storage Provider | CVE-2017-0388 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in core networking | CVE-2017-0389 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0390, CVE-2017-0391, CVE-2017-0392, CVE-2017-0393 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Telephony | CVE-2017-0394 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Contacts | CVE-2017-0395 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0396, CVE-2017-0397 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0398, CVE-2017-0399, CVE-2017-0400, CVE-2017-0401, CVE-2017-0402 | Moderate | Yes |
[/table]
Security patch levels of 2017-01-05 or later must address all of the 2017-01-01 issues, as well as the following issues.
[table style=”table-striped”]
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Google devices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel memory subsystem | CVE-2015-3288 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm bootloader | CVE-2016-8422, CVE-2016-8423 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel file system | CVE-2015-5706 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2016-8424, CVE-2016-8425, CVE-2016-8426, CVE-2016-8482, CVE-2016-8427, CVE-2016-8428, CVE-2016-8429, CVE-2016-8430, CVE-2016-8431, CVE-2016-8432 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek driver | CVE-2016-8433 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm GPU driver | CVE-2016-8434 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2016-8435 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm video driver | CVE-2016-8436 | Critical | No* |
| Vulnerabilities in Qualcomm components | CVE-2016-5080, CVE-2016-8398, CVE-2016-8437, CVE-2016-8438, CVE-2016-8439, CVE-2016-8440, CVE-2016-8441, CVE-2016-8442, CVE-2016-8443, CVE-2016-8459 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm camera | CVE-2016-8412, CVE-2016-8444 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek components | CVE-2016-8445, CVE-2016-8446, CVE-2016-8447, CVE-2016-8448 | High | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2016-8415 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2016-8449 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm sound driver | CVE-2016-8450 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Synaptics touchscreen driver | CVE-2016-8451 | High | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel security subsystem | CVE-2016-7042 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel performance subsystem | CVE-2017-0403 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel sound subsystem | CVE-2017-0404 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2016-8452 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm radio driver | CVE-2016-5345 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel profiling subsystem | CVE-2016-9754 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Broadcom Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2016-8453, CVE-2016-8454, CVE-2016-8455, CVE-2016-8456, CVE-2016-8457 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Synaptics touchscreen driver | CVE-2016-8458 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in NVIDIA video driver | CVE-2016-8460 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in bootloader | CVE-2016-8461, CVE-2016-8462 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Qualcomm FUSE file system | CVE-2016-8463 | High | No* |
| Denial of service vulnerability in bootloader | CVE-2016-8467 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Broadcom Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2016-8464, CVE-2016-8465, CVE-2016-8466 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in bootloader | CVE-2016-8467 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Binder | CVE-2016-8468 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in NVIDIA camera driver | CVE-2016-8469 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek driver | CVE-2016-8470, CVE-2016-8471, CVE-2016-8472 | Moderate | No* |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in STMicroelectronics driver | CVE-2016-8473, CVE-2016-8474 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm audio post processor | CVE-2017-0399, CVE-2017-0400, CVE-2017-0401, CVE-2017-0402 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in HTC input driver | CVE-2016-8475 | Moderate | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in kernel file system | CVE-2014-9420 | Moderate | Yes |
[/table]
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 January 2017 Android Security Bulletin is available here.
