Google has released the February 2017Â Android Security Bulletin. Partners have had access to the warnings in this month’s bulletin since January 3, 2017 or earlier.
The February 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.
2017-02-01: Partial security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2017-02-01 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
2017-02-05: Complete security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2017-02-01 and 2017-02-05 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
Supported Google devices will receive a single OTA update with the February 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 February 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 2017-02-01 or later must address the following issues.
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Google devices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Surfaceflinger | CVE-2017-0405 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0406, CVE-2017-0407 | Critical | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in libgdx | CVE-2017-0408 | High | Yes |
| Remote code execution vulnerability in libstagefright | CVE-2017-0409 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Java.Net | CVE-2016-5552 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Framework APIs | CVE-2017-0410, CVE-2017-0411, CVE-2017-0412 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Mediaserver | CVE-2017-0415 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0416, CVE-2017-0417, CVE-2017-0418, CVE-2017-0419 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in AOSP Mail | CVE-2017-0420 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in AOSP Messaging | CVE-2017-0413, CVE-2017-0414 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Framework APIs | CVE-2017-0421 | High | Yes |
| Denial of service vulnerability in Bionic DNS | CVE-2017-0422 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Bluetooth | CVE-2017-0423 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in AOSP Messaging | CVE-2017-0424 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0425 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Filesystem | CVE-2017-0426 | Moderate | Yes |
Security patch levels of 2017-02-05 or later must address all of the 2017-01-01 issues, as well as the following issues.
| Issue | CVE | Severity | Affects Google devices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution vulnerability in Qualcomm crypto driver | CVE-2016-8418 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel file system | CVE-2017-0427 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU driver | CVE-2017-0428, CVE-2017-0429 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel networking subsystem | CVE-2014-9914 | Critical | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Broadcom Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2017-0430 | Critical | Yes |
| Vulnerabilities in Qualcomm components | CVE-2017-0431 | Critical | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek driver | CVE-2017-0432 | High | No* |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Synaptics touchscreen driver | CVE-2017-0433, CVE-2017-0434 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Secure Execution Environment Communicator driver | CVE-2016-8480 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm sound driver | CVE-2016-8481, CVE-2017-0435, CVE-2017-0436 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2017-0437, CVE-2017-0438, CVE-2017-0439, CVE-2016-8419, CVE-2016-8420, CVE-2016-8421, CVE-2017-0440, CVE-2017-0441, CVE-2017-0442, CVE-2017-0443, CVE-2016-8476 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Realtek sound driver | CVE-2017-0444 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in HTC touchscreen driver | CVE-2017-0445, CVE-2017-0446, CVE-2017-0447 | High | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in NVIDIA video driver | CVE-2017-0448 | High | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Broadcom Wi-Fi driver | CVE-2017-0449 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in Audioserver | CVE-2017-0450 | Moderate | Yes |
| Elevation of privilege vulnerability in kernel file system | CVE-2016-10044 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm Secure Execution Environment Communicator | CVE-2016-8414 | Moderate | Yes |
| Information disclosure vulnerability in Qualcomm sound driver | CVE-2017-0451 | Moderate | 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 February 2017 Android Security Bulletin is available here.
