CVE-2016-6761 Privilege escalation in Android

What is CVE-2016-6761?

CVE-2016-6761 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jan 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Qualcomm media codecs could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. This issue is rated as High because it could be used to gain local access to elevated capabilities, which are not normally accessible to a third-party application. Product: Android. Versions: Kernel-3.10, Kernel-3.18. Android ID: A-29421682. References: QC-CR#1055792.

Weakness: CWE-284

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-6761?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2016-6761?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-6761 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2016-6761 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-6761 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-r9qv-22jm-xqjj.