Google has released the March 2017Â Android Security Bulletin. Partners have had access to the warnings in this month’s bulletin since February 06, 2017 or earlier.
The March 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.
- 2017-03-01: Partial security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2017-03-01 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
- 2017-03-05: Complete security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2017-03-01 and 2017-03-05 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed
Supported Google devices will receive a single OTA update with the March 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 March 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 2017-03-01 or later must address the following issues.
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Google devices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution vulnerability in OpenSSL & BoringSSL | CVE-2016-2182 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0466, CVE-2017-0467, CVE-2017-0468, CVE-2017-0469, CVE-2017-0470, CVE-2017-0471, CVE-2017-0472, CVE-2017-0473, CVE-2017-0474 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in recovery verifier | CVE-2017-0475 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in AOSP Messaging | CVE-2017-0476 | High | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in libgdx | CVE-2017-0477 | High | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Framesequence library | CVE-2017-0478 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0479, CVE-2017-0480 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NFC | CVE-2017-0481 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0482, CVE-2017-0483, CVE-2017-0484, CVE-2017-0485, CVE-2017-0486, CVE-2017-0487, CVE-2017-0488 | High | Yes |
| Update: Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0390 | High | Yes |
| Update: Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0392 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Location Manager | CVE-2017-0489 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Wi-Fi | CVE-2017-0490 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Package Manager | CVE-2017-0491 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in System UI | CVE-2017-0492 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in AOSP Messaging | CVE-2017-0494 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0495 | Moderate | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Setup Wizard | CVE-2017-0496 | Moderate | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0497 | Moderate | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Setup Wizard | CVE-2017-0498 | Moderate | No* |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0499 | Low | Yes |
Security patch levels of 2017-03-05 or later must address all of the 2017-01-01 issues, as well as the following issues.
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Google devices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek components | CVE-2017-0500, CVE-2017-0501, CVE-2017-0502, CVE-2017-0503, CVE-2017-0504, CVE-2017-0505, CVE-2017-0506 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2017-0337, CVE-2017-0338, CVE-2017-0333, CVE-2017-0306, CVE-2017-0335 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel ION subsystem | CVE-2017-0507, CVE-2017-0508 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Broadcom Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2017-0509 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel FIQ debugger | CVE-2017-0510 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm GPU driver | CVE-2016-8479 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel networking subsystem | CVE-2016-9806, CVE-2016-10200 | Critical | Yes |
| Vulnerabilities in Qualcomm components | CVE-2016-8484, CVE-2016-8485, CVE-2016-8486, CVE-2016-8487, CVE-2016-8488 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel networking subsystem | CVE-2016-8655, CVE-2016-9793 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm input hardware driver | CVE-2017-0516 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek Hardware Sensor Driver | CVE-2017-0517 | High | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm ADSPRPC driver | CVE-2017-0457 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm fingerprint sensor driver | CVE-2017-0518, CVE-2017-0519 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm crypto engine driver | CVE-2017-0520 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm camera driver | CVE-2017-0458, CVE-2017-0521 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek APK | CVE-2017-0522 | High | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2017-0464, CVE-2017-0453, CVE-2017-0523 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Synaptics touchscreen driver | CVE-2017-0524 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm IPA driver | CVE-2017-0456, CVE-2017-0525 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in HTC Sensor Hub Driver | CVE-2017-0526, CVE-2017-0527 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2017-0307 | High | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm networking driver | CVE-2017-0463, CVE-2017-0460 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel security subsystem | CVE-2017-0528 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm SPCom driver | CVE-2016-5856, CVE-2016-5857 | High | No* |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in kernel networking subsystem | CVE-2014-8709 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek driver | CVE-2017-0529 | High | No* |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm bootloader | CVE-2017-0455 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm power driver | CVE-2016-8483 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2017-0334, CVE-2017-0336 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in kernel cryptographic subsystem | CVE-2016-8650 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm camera driver (device specific) | CVE-2016-8417 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2017-0461, CVE-2017-0459, CVE-2017-0531 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in MediaTek video codec driver | CVE-2017-0532 | Moderate | No* |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm video driver | CVE-2017-0533, CVE-2017-0534, CVE-2016-8416, CVE-2016-8478 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm camera driver | CVE-2016-8413, CVE-2016-8477 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in HTC sound codec driver | CVE-2017-0535 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Synaptics touchscreen driver | CVE-2017-0536 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in kernel USB gadget driver | CVE-2017-0537 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm camera driver | CVE-2017-0452 | Low | Yes |
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 March 2017 Android Security Bulletin is available here.
