# CVE-2016-3876: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Physically proximate attackers can bypass safe mode restrictions via ADB, allowing unauthorized boot states on Android devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Sep 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3pqg-4gj7-q4px, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-3876

## What is CVE-2016-3876?

CVE-2016-3876 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Google Android, published on 11 Sep 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

providers/settings/SettingsProvider.java in Android 6.x before 2016-09-01 and 7.0 before 2016-09-01 allows physically proximate attackers to bypass the SAFE_BOOT_DISALLOWED protection mechanism and boot to safe mode via the Android Debug Bridge (adb) tool, aka internal bug 29900345.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-3876?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Google Android.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-3876?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-3876 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-3876 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-3876 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Google Android

- [CVE-2026-58704](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-58704/): Google Pixel Improper Authorization (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-48543](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48543/): Android Runtime Use-After-Free (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-35674](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-35674/): Android Framework Privilege Escalation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-48595](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48595/): Android Framework Integer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-32896](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32896/): Android Pixel Privilege Escalation (high 8.1, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-3876 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-3876 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Google Android, published on 11 Sep 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-3876 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Google Android. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-3876/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-3876/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-3876
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-3876
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-3876

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-3876/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.