Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

U.S. Authorities Charge Owner of Most-Visited Illegal File-Sharing Website with Copyright Infringement

U.S. authorities have charged the alleged owner of today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website with criminal copyright infringement and have seized domain names associated with the website.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon of the Northern District of Illinois, Executive Associate Director Peter T. Edge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.

Artem Vaulin, 30, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, was arrested today in Poland and is charged by criminal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.  The United States will seek to extradite Vaulin to the United States.

“Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.  “In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits.  His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice.”

“Copyright infringement exacts a large toll, a very human one, on the artists and businesses whose livelihood hinges on their creative inventions,” said U.S. Attorney Fardon.  “Vaulin allegedly used the Internet to cause enormous harm to those artists.  Our Cybercrimes Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago will continue to work with our law enforcement partners around the globe to identify, investigate and prosecute those who attempt to illegally profit from the innovation of others.”

“Artem Vaulin was allegedly running a worldwide digital piracy website that stole more than $1 billion in profits from the U.S. entertainment industry,” said Executive Associate Director Edge.  “Protecting legitimate commerce is one of HSI’s highest priorities.  With the cooperation of our law enforcement partners, we will continue to aggressively bring to justice those who enrich themselves by stealing the creative work of U.S. artists.”

“Investigating cyber-enabled schemes is a top priority for CI,” said Chief Weber.  “Websites such as the one seized today brazenly facilitate all kinds of illegal commerce.  Criminal Investigation is committed to thoroughly investigating financial crimes, regardless of the medium.  We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to unravel this and other complex financial transactions and money laundering schemes where individuals attempt to conceal the true source of their income and use the Internet to mask their true identity.”

According to the complaint, Vaulin allegedly owns and operates Kickass Torrents or KAT, a commercial website that has enabled users to illegally reproduce and distribute hundreds of millions of copyrighted motion pictures, video games, television programs, musical recordings and other electronic media since 2008.  The copyrighted material is collectively valued at well over $1 billion, according to the complaint.  The complaint alleges that KAT receives more than 50 million unique visitors per month and is estimated to be the 69th most frequently visited website on the internet.

In addition, a federal court in Chicago ordered the seizure of one bank account and seven domain names associated with the alleged KAT conspiracy.

According to the complaint, KAT has consistently made available for download movies that were still in theaters and displayed advertising throughout its site.  KAT’s net worth has been estimated at more than $54 million, with estimated annual advertising revenue in the range of $12.5 million to $22.3 million, according to the complaint.  The complaint alleges that the site operates in approximately 28 languages.  KAT has moved its domains several times due to numerous seizures and copyright lawsuits, and it has been ordered blocked by courts in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Belgium and Malaysia, according to the complaint.  KAT has allegedly operated at various times under the domains kickasstorrents.com, kat.ph, kickass.to, kickass.so and kat.cr, and relied on a network of computer servers located around the world, including in Chicago. 

Several motion pictures currently available for download and sharing on KAT are still showing in theatres, including “Captain America: Civil War,” “Now You See Me 2,” “Independence Day: Resurgence” and “Finding Dory,” according to the complaint.  The complaint alleges that Vaulin, who used the screen name “tirm,” was involved in designing KAT’s original website, oversaw KAT’s operations and, during the latter part of the conspiracy, Vaulin allegedly operated KAT under the auspices of a Ukrainian-based front company called Cryptoneat. 

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations.  The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. 

HSI and IRS-CI investigated the case with substantial assistance from the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the Polish Border Guard and National Prosecutor’s Office.

Senior Counsel Ryan K. Dickey of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William E. Ridgway and Devlin N. Su of the Northern District of Illinois are prosecuting the case.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance in this case. 

- wong chee tat :)

Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player - July 2016

Adobe Security Bulletin

Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player

Release date: July 12, 2016

Vulnerability identifier: APSB16-25

Priority: See table below

CVE number: CVE-2016-4172, CVE-2016-4173, CVE-2016-4174, CVE-2016-4175, CVE-2016-4176, CVE-2016-4177, CVE-2016-4178, CVE-2016-4179, CVE-2016-4180, CVE-2016-4181, CVE-2016-4182, CVE-2016-4183, CVE-2016-4184, CVE-2016-4185, CVE-2016-4186, CVE-2016-4187, CVE-2016-4188, CVE-2016-4189, CVE-2016-4190, CVE-2016-4217, CVE-2016-4218, CVE-2016-4219, CVE-2016-4220, CVE-2016-4221, CVE-2016-4222, CVE-2016-4223, CVE-2016-4224, CVE-2016-4225, CVE-2016-4226, CVE-2016-4227, CVE-2016-4228, CVE-2016-4229, CVE-2016-4230, CVE-2016-4231, CVE-2016-4232, CVE-2016-4233, CVE-2016-4234, CVE-2016-4235, CVE-2016-4236, CVE-2016-4237, CVE-2016-4238, CVE-2016-4239, CVE-2016-4240, CVE-2016-4241, CVE-2016-4242, CVE-2016-4243, CVE-2016-4244, CVE-2016-4245, CVE-2016-4246, CVE-2016-4247, CVE-2016-4248, CVE-2016-4249

Platform: Windows, Macintosh, Linux and ChromeOS

Summary

Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and ChromeOS.  These updates address critical vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.  

Affected Versions

Product	Affected Versions	Platform
Adobe Flash Player Desktop Runtime	22.0.0.192 and earlier	Windows and Macintosh
Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release	18.0.0.360 and earlier	Windows and Macintosh
Adobe Flash Player for Google Chrome	22.0.0.192 and earlier	Windows, Macintosh, Linux and ChromeOS
Adobe Flash Player for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11	22.0.0.192 and earlier	Windows 10 and 8.1
Adobe Flash Player for Linux	11.2.202.626 and earlier	Linux

• To verify the version of Adobe Flash Player installed on your system, access the About Flash Player page, or right-click on content running in Flash Player and select "About Adobe (or Macromedia) Flash Player" from the menu. If you use multiple browsers, perform the check for each browser you have installed on your system.  

Solution

Adobe categorizes these updates with the following priority ratings and recommends users update their installation to the newest version:

Product	Updated Versions	Platform	Priority rating	Availability
Adobe Flash Player Desktop Runtime	22.0.0.209	Windows and Macintosh	1	Flash Player Download Center Flash Player Distribution
Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release	18.0.0.366	Windows and Macintosh	1	Extended Support
Adobe Flash Player for Google Chrome	22.0.0.209	Windows, Macintosh, Linux and ChromeOS	1	Google Chrome Releases
Adobe Flash Player for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11	22.0.0.209	Windows 10 and 8.1	1	Microsoft Security Advisory
Adobe Flash Player for Linux	11.2.202.632	Linux	3	Flash Player Download Center

• Adobe recommends users of the  Adobe Flash Player Desktop Runtime for Windows and Macintosh update to 22.0.0.209 via the update mechanism within the product when prompted [1], or by visiting the Adobe Flash Player Download Center.
• Adobe recommends users of the Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release should update to version 18.0.0.366 by visiting http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html.
• Adobe recommends users of Adobe Flash Player for Linux update to Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.632 by visiting the Adobe Flash Player Download Center.
• Adobe Flash Player installed with Google Chrome will be automatically updated to the latest Google Chrome version, which will include Adobe Flash Player 22.0.0.209 for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome OS.
• Adobe Flash Player installed with Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer for Windows 10 and 8.1 will be automatically updated to the latest version, which will include Adobe Flash Player 22.0.0.209. 
• Please visit the Flash Player Help page for assistance in installing Flash Player.

[1] Users of Flash Player 11.2.x or later for Windows, or Flash Player 11.3.x or later for Macintosh, who have selected the option to 'Allow Adobe to install updates' will receive the update automatically. Users who do not have the 'Allow Adobe to install updates' option enabled can install the update via the update mechanism within the product when prompted.

Vulnerability Details

• These updates resolve a race condition vulnerability that could lead to information disclosure (CVE-2016-4247).

• These updates resolve type confusion vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution (CVE-2016-4223, CVE-2016-4224, CVE-2016-4225).

• These updates resolve use-after-free vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution (CVE-2016-4173, CVE-2016-4174, CVE-2016-4222, CVE-2016-4226, CVE-2016-4227, CVE-2016-4228, CVE-2016-4229, CVE-2016-4230, CVE-2016-4231, CVE-2016-4248).

• These updates resolve a heap buffer overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2016-4249).

• These updates resolve memory corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution (CVE-2016-4172, CVE-2016-4175, CVE-2016-4179, CVE-2016-4180, CVE-2016-4181, CVE-2016-4182, CVE-2016-4183, CVE-2016-4184, CVE-2016-4185, CVE-2016-4186, CVE-2016-4187, CVE-2016-4188, CVE-2016-4189, CVE-2016-4190, CVE-2016-4217, CVE-2016-4218, CVE-2016-4219, CVE-2016-4220, CVE-2016-4221, CVE-2016-4233, CVE-2016-4234, CVE-2016-4235, CVE-2016-4236, CVE-2016-4237, CVE-2016-4238, CVE-2016-4239, CVE-2016-4240, CVE-2016-4241, CVE-2016-4242, CVE-2016-4243, CVE-2016-4244, CVE-2016-4245, CVE-2016-4246).

• These updates resolve a memory leak vulnerability (CVE-2016-4232).

• These updates resolve stack corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution (CVE-2016-4176, CVE-2016-4177).

• These updates resolve a security bypass vulnerability that could lead to information disclosure (CVE-2016-4178)

Acknowledgments

• Yuki Chen of Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team working with the Chromium Vulnerability Rewards Program (CVE-2016-4249)

• Nicolas Joly of Microsoft Vulnerability Research (CVE-2016-4173)

• Wen Guanxing from Pangu LAB (CVE-2016-4188, CVE-2016-4248)

• Jaehun Jeong(@n3sk) of WINS WSEC Analysis Team working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2016-4222)

• Kai Kang (a.k.a 4B5F5F4B) working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2016-4174)

• willJ of Tencent PC Manager (CVE-2016-4172)

• Natalie Silvanovich of Google Project Zero (CVE-2016-4226, CVE-2016-4227, CVE-2016-4228, CVE-2016-4229, CVE-2016-4230, CVE-2016-4231, CVE-2016-4232)

• Garandou Sara working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2016-4223)

• Sébastien Morin of COSIG (CVE-2016-4175, CVE-2016-4179)

• Kurutsu Karen working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2016-4225)

• Soroush Dalili from NCC Group (CVE-2016-4178)

• Yuki Chen of Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team (CVE-2016-4180, CVE-2016-4181, CVE-2016-4183, CVE-2016-4184, CVE-2016-4185, CVE-2016-4186, CVE-2016-4187, CVE-2016-4233, CVE-2016-4234, CVE-2016-4235, CVE-2016-4236, CVE-2016-4237, CVE-2016-4238, CVE-2016-4239, CVE-2016-4240, CVE-2016-4241, CVE-2016-4242, CVE-2016-4243, CVE-2016-4244, CVE-2016-4245, CVE-2016-4246)

• Yuki Chen of Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team and Wen Guanxing from Pangu LAB (CVE-2016-4182)

• Junfeng Yang and Genwei Jiang of FireEye and Yuki Chen of Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team (CVE-2016-4185)

• Ohara Rinne working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (CVE-2016-4224)

• Francis Provencher of COSIG (CVE-2016-4176, CVE-2016-4177)

• Jie Zeng of Tencent Zhanlu Lab (CVE-2016-4189, CVE-2016-4190, CVE-2016-4217, CVE-2016-4218, CVE-2016-4219, CVE-2016-4220, CVE-2016-4221)

• Stefan Kanthak (CVE-2016-4247)

- wong chee tat :)

Chrome Bug Enabled Crooks to Send Malicious Code to Your Browser as PDF Files

Chrome Bug Enabled Crooks to Send Malicious Code to Your Browser as PDF Files

Jun 9, 2016 23:05 GMT  ·  By Catalin Cimpanu

Google has recently patched a high severity security bug in the Chrome browser that allowed crooks to send malicious code to your browser and take over your entire system.
The issue, tracked by the CVE-2016-1681 identifier, affects the browser's built-in PDF reader called PDFium.

Google patched the issue with the release of Chrome 51.0.2704.63, released on May 25. In the meantime, Chrome released another wave of security updates at the start of June.

Cisco discovered the issue, and Google patched it in six days
Cisco's Aleksandar Nikolic was the researcher that discovered and reported the issue to Google, who even awarded him $3,000 for his efforts.

According to the researcher's account, the issue was discovered six days earlier, on May 19, and Google's team fixed it right away.

Nikolic says that CVE-2016-1681 allowed attackers to embed a JPEG2000 image inside a PDF file, which when opened inside a vulnerable Chrome browser, would have triggered a buffer overflow that enabled the threat actor to run arbitrary code on the victim's machine.

Vulnerability was in the OpenJPEG library
The actual vulnerability was not in Chrome or PDFium, but in the OpenJPEG library that parses JPEG2000 files before being displayed inside the browser.

PDF files are so prevalent nowadays that few people think twice before opening one, either locally or on the Web. All of today's major browsers have a PDF reader already built-in, which also helps users think that opening a PDF might be safe.

"The most effective attack vector is for the threat actor to place a malicious PDF file on a website and then redirect victims to the website using either phishing emails or even malvertising," Cisco's Earl Carter wrote today in a technical write-up.

To stay safe, users should update to Google Chrome 51.0.2704.63 or higher. You can do this with the help of the built-in Chrome updater, or you can install a fresh copy of Chrome on top of your existing installation. You can get Google Chrome via Softpedia's download mirrors for Linux, Mac, and Windows users.



Read more: http://news.softpedia.com/news/chrome-bug-enabled-crooks-to-send-malicious-code-to-your-browser-as-pdf-files-505068.shtml#ixzz4BTAMzpfK



- wong chee tat :)

Parcel Phone Scam Alert - POSB

Parcel Phone Scam Alert - POSB

Date: 1 June 2016
Threat Type: Phishing Calls

Description: A phishing campaign is targeting Singapore residents with automated phone calls. The calls start with an automated voice message in Mandarin, claiming to be a courier company and that their parcel had not been picked up. The call recipient is then directed to enter “0” or “9”. This connects them to a Mandarin-speaking person posing as a courier staff member who will claim that the parcel held contains prohibited items e.g. fake passports or weapons. The alleged staff member will request personal and/or bank information, or transfer the call to another person who will claim to be a customs or police officer. This person will in turn request personal and/or bank information or instruct the call recipient to remit money to an overseas bank account to avoid action from authorities.

Who might be at risk?
Customers with DBS accounts.

How can you protect yourself from this?

1. Be alert. Do not provide personal or bank information or remit money based on the advice of unsolicited callers.
2. Never give out any sensitive personal information (including login passwords or one-time passwords) over the phone or via email. Our staff will never ask you for such information.
3. Please inform our customer centre at 1800 111 1111 or +65 6327 2265 (when calling from overseas) immediately if you receive such calls or have disclosed your personal or bank information to unsolicited callers.
4. For more information on such scams, please visit http://www.scamalert.sg/scams/impersonation-scam.html

- wong chee tat :)

Android Security Bulletin—May 2016

Published May 02, 2016 | Updated May 04, 2016

The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. Alongside with the bulletin, we have released a security update to Nexus devices through an over-the-air (OTA) update. The Nexus firmware images have also been released to the Google Developer site. Security Patch Levels of May 01, 2016 or later address these issues (refer to the Nexus documentation for instructions on how to check the security patch level).

Partners were notified about the issues described in the bulletin on April 04, 2016 or earlier. Where applicable, source code patches for these issues have been released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository.

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.

We have had no reports of active customer exploitation or abuse of these newly reported issues. Refer to theAndroid and Google Service Mitigations section for details on the Android security platform protections and service protections such as SafetyNet, which improve the security of the Android platform.

We encourage all customers to accept these updates to their devices.

Announcements

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• To reflect a broader focus, we renamed this bulletin (and all following in the series) to the Android Security Bulletin. These bulletins encompass a broader range of vulnerabilities that may affect Android devices, even if they do not affect Nexus devices.
• We updated the Android Security severity ratings. These changes were the result of data collected over the last six months on reported security vulnerabilities and aim to align severities more closely with real world impact to users.

Security Vulnerability Summary

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The table below contains a list of security vulnerabilities, the Common Vulnerability and Exposures ID (CVE), their assessed severity and whether or not Nexus 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.

Issue	CVE	Severity	Affects Nexus?
Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Mediaserver	CVE-2016-2428 CVE-2016-2429	Critical	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Debuggerd	CVE-2016-2430	Critical	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm TrustZone	CVE-2016-2431 CVE-2016-2432	Critical	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi Driver	CVE-2015-0569 CVE-2015-0570	Critical	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in NVIDIA Video Driver	CVE-2016-2434 CVE-2016-2435 CVE-2016-2436 CVE-2016-2437	Critical	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Kernel	CVE-2015-1805	Critical	Yes
Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Kernel	CVE-2016-2438	High	Yes
Information Disclosure Vulnerability in Qualcomm Tethering Controller	CVE-2016-2060	High	No
Remote Code Execution in Bluetooth	CVE-2016-2439	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege in Binder	CVE-2016-2440	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm Buspm Driver	CVE-2016-2441 CVE-2016-2442	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm MDP Driver	CVE-2016-2443	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi Driver	CVE-2015-0571	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in NVIDIA Video Driver	CVE-2016-2444 CVE-2016-2445 CVE-2016-2446	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege in Wi-Fi	CVE-2016-4477	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Mediaserver	CVE-2016-2448 CVE-2016-2449 CVE-2016-2450 CVE-2016-2451 CVE-2016-2452	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi Driver	CVE-2016-2453	High	Yes
Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability in Qualcomm Hardware Codec	CVE-2016-2454	High	Yes
Elevation of Privilege in Conscrypt	CVE-2016-2461 CVE-2016-2462	Moderate	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in OpenSSL & BoringSSL	CVE-2016-0705	Moderate	Yes
Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi Driver	CVE-2016-2456	Moderate	Yes
Elevation of Privilege in Wi-Fi	CVE-2016-2457	Moderate	Yes
Information Disclosure Vulnerability in AOSP Mail	CVE-2016-2458	Moderate	Yes
Information Disclosure Vulnerability in Mediaserver	CVE-2016-2459 CVE-2016-2460	Moderate	Yes
Denial of Service Vulnerability in Kernel	CVE-2016-0774	Low	Yes

Android and Google Service Mitigations

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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.

Acknowledgements

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We would like to thank these researchers for their contributions:

• Abhishek Arya, Oliver Chang, and Martin Barbella of Google Chrome Security Team: CVE-2016-2454
• Andy Tyler (@ticarpi) of e2e-assure: CVE-2016-2457
• Chiachih Wu (@chiachih_wu) and Xuxian Jiang of C0RE Team: CVE-2016-2441, CVE-2016-2442
• Dzmitry Lukyanenka ( www.linkedin.com/in/dzima): CVE-2016-2458
• Gal Beniamini: CVE-2016-2431
• Hao Chen of Vulpecker Team, Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd: CVE-2016-2456
• Jake Valletta of Mandiant, a FireEye company: CVE-2016-2060
• Jianqiang Zhao (@jianqiangzhao) and pjf (weibo.com/jfpan) of IceSword Lab, Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd: CVE-2016-2434, CVE-2016-2435, CVE-2016-2436, CVE-2016-2441, CVE-2016-2442, CVE-2016-2444, CVE-2016-2445, CVE-2016-2446
• Imre Rad of Search-Lab Ltd.: CVE-2016-4477
• Jeremy C. Joslin of Google: CVE-2016-2461
• Kenny Root of Google: CVE-2016-2462
• Marco Grassi (@marcograss) of KeenLab (@keen_lab), Tencent: CVE-2016-2443
• Michał Bednarski ( https://github.com/michalbednarski): CVE-2016-2440
• Mingjian Zhou (@Mingjian_Zhou), Chiachih Wu (@chiachih_wu), and Xuxian Jiang of C0RE Team: CVE-2016-2450, CVE-2016-2448, CVE-2016-2449, CVE-2016-2451, CVE-2016-2452
• Peter Pi (@heisecode) of Trend Micro: CVE-2016-2459, CVE-2016-2460
• Weichao Sun (@sunblate) of Alibaba Inc.: CVE-2016-2428, CVE-2016-2429
• Yuan-Tsung Lo, Lubo Zhang, Chiachih Wu (@chiachih_wu), and Xuxian Jiang of C0RE Team: CVE-2016-2437
• Yulong Zhang and Tao (Lenx) Wei of Baidu X-Lab: CVE-2016-2439
• Zach Riggle (@ebeip90) of the Android Security Team: CVE-2016-2430

Security Vulnerability Details

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In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities listed in the Security Vulnerability Summary above. There is a description of the issue, a severity rationale, and a table with the CVE, associated bug, severity, updated Nexus devices, updated AOSP versions (where applicable), and date reported. When available, we will link the AOSP change that addressed the issue to the bug ID. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional AOSP references are linked to numbers following the bug ID.

Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Mediaserver

During media file and data processing of a specially crafted file, a vulnerability in mediaserver could allow an attacker to cause memory corruption and remote code execution as the mediaserver process.

The affected functionality is provided as a core part of the operating system and there are multiple applications that allow it to be reached with remote content, most notably MMS and browser playback of media.

This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of remote code execution within the context of the mediaserver service. The mediaserver service has access to audio and video streams, as well as access to privileges that third-party apps could not normally access.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2428	26751339	Critical	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Jan 22, 2016
CVE-2016-2429	27211885	Critical	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 16, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Debuggerd

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the integrated Android debugger could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the Android debugger. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2430	27299236	Critical	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 22, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm TrustZone

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm TrustZone component could enable a secure local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the TrustZone kernel. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2431	24968809*	Critical	Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (2013), Android One	Oct 15, 2015
CVE-2016-2432	25913059*	Critical	Nexus 6, Android One	Nov 28, 2015

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to possibility of a local privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution leading to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2015-0569	26754117*	Critical	Nexus 5X, Nexus 7 (2013)	Jan 23, 2016
CVE-2015-0570	26764809*	Critical	Nexus 5X, Nexus 7 (2013)	Jan 25, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in NVIDIA Video Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the NVIDIA video driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2434	27251090*	Critical	Nexus 9	Feb 17, 2016
CVE-2016-2435	27297988*	Critical	Nexus 9	Feb 20, 2016
CVE-2016-2436	27299111*	Critical	Nexus 9	Feb 22, 2016
CVE-2016-2437	27436822*	Critical	Nexus 9	Mar 1, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Kernel

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the kernel could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. This issue is rated as Critical severity due to the possibility of a local privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution leading to the possibility of a local permanent device compromise, which may require reflashing the operating system to repair the device. This issue was described in Android Security Advisory 2016-03-18.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2015-1805	27275324*	Critical	Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9	Feb 19, 2016

* The patch in AOSP is available for specific kernel versions: 3.14, 3.10, and 3.4.

Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Kernel

A remote code execution vulnerability in the audio subsystem could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. Normally a kernel code execution bug like this would be rated Critical, but because it first requires compromising a privileged service in order to call the audio subsystem, it is rated High severity.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2438	26636060*	High	Nexus 9	Google Internal

* The patch for this issue is available in Linux upstream.

Information Disclosure Vulnerability in Qualcomm Tethering Controller

An information disclosure vulnerability in the Qualcomm Tethering controller could allow a local malicious application to access personal identifiable information without the privileges to do so. This issue is rated as High severity because it can be used to gain elevated capabilities, such as Signature or SignatureOrSystem permissions privileges, which are not accessible to a third-party application.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2060	27942588*	High	None	Mar 23, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update should be contained in the latest drivers of affected devices.

Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Bluetooth

During pairing of a Bluetooth device, a vulnerability in Bluetooth could allow a proximal attacker to execute arbitrary code during the pairing process. This issue is rated as High severity due to the possibility of remote code execution during the initialization of a Bluetooth device.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2439	27411268	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 28, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Binder

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Binder could allow a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of another app’s process. While freeing memory, a vulnerability in the Binder could allow an attacker to cause local code execution. This issue is rated as High severity due to the possibility of local code execution during free memory process in the Binder.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2440	27252896	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 18, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm Buspm Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm buspm driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. Normally a kernel code execution bug like this would be rated Critical, but because it first requires compromising a service that can call the driver, it is rated as High severity.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2441	26354602*	High	Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P	Dec 30, 2015
CVE-2016-2442	26494907*	High	Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P	Dec 30, 2015

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm MDP Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm MDP driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. Normally a kernel code execution bug like this would be rated Critical, but because it first requires compromising a service that can call the driver, it is rated as High severity.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2443	26404525*	High	Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013)	Jan 5, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Qualcomm Wi-Fi Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Qualcomm Wi-Fi component could enable a local malicious application to invoke system calls changing the device settings and behavior without the privileges to do so. This issue is rated as High severity because it could be used to gain local access to elevated capabilities, such as Signature orSignatureOrSystem permissions privileges, which are not accessible to a third-party application.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2015-0571	26763920*	High	Nexus 5X, Nexus 7 (2013)	Jan 25, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in NVIDIA Video Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the NVIDIA media driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. Normally a kernel code execution bug like this would be rated Critical, but because it first requires compromising a high privilege service to call the driver, it is rated High severity.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2444	27208332*	High	Nexus 9	Feb 16, 2016
CVE-2016-2445	27253079*	High	Nexus 9	Feb 17, 2016
CVE-2016-2446	27441354*	High	Nexus 9	Mar 1, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Wi-Fi

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Wi-Fi could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of an elevated system application. This issue is rated as High severity because it could also be used to gain elevated capabilities, such as Signature or SignatureOrSystem permissions privileges, which are not accessible to third-party applications.

Note:The CVE number has been updated, per MITRE request, from CVE-2016-2447 to CVE-2016-4477.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-4477	27371366 [2]	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 24, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Mediaserver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in mediaserver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of an elevated system application. This issue is rated as High severity because it could be used to gain elevated capabilities, such as Signature or SignatureOrSystem permissions privileges, which are not accessible to a third-party application.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2448	27533704	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 7, 2016
CVE-2016-2449	27568958	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 9, 2016
CVE-2016-2450	27569635	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 9, 2016
CVE-2016-2451	27597103	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 10, 2016
CVE-2016-2452	27662364 [2] [3]	High	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 14, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the MediaTek Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel. Normally a kernel code execution bug like this would be rated Critical, but because it first requires compromising a service that can call the driver, it is rated as High severity.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2453	27549705*	High	Android One	Mar 8, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Remote Denial of Service Vulnerability in Qualcomm Hardware Codec

During media file and data processing of a specially crafted file, a remote denial of service vulnerability in the Qualcomm hardware video codec could allow a remote attacker to block access to an affected device by causing a device reboot. This is rated as High severity due to the possibility of remote denial of service.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2454	26221024*	High	Nexus 5	Dec 16, 2015

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Conscrypt

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Conscrypt could allow an local application to believe a message was authenticated when it was not. This issue is rated as Moderate severity because it requires coordinated steps across multiple devices.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2461	27324690 [2]	Moderate	All Nexus	6.0, 6.0.1	Google Internal
CVE-2016-2462	27371173	Moderate	All Nexus	6.0, 6.0.1	Google Internal

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in OpenSSL & BoringSSL

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in OpenSSL and BoringSSL could enable a local malicious application to access data outside of its permission levels. Normally this would be rated High, but because it requires an uncommon manual configuration, it is rated as Moderate severity.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-0705	27449871	Moderate	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 7, 2016

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi Driver

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in MediaTek Wi-Fi driver could enable a local malicious application to cause a denial of service. Normally an elevation of privilege bug like this would be rated High, but because it requires first compromising a system service, it is rated as Moderate severity.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-2456	27275187*	Moderate	Android One	Feb 19, 2016

* The patch for this issue is not in AOSP. The update is contained in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer site.

Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability in Wi-Fi

An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Wi-Fi could enable a guest account to modify the Wi-Fi settings that persist for the primary user. This issue is rated as Moderate severity because it enables local access to " dangerous" capabilities without permission.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2457	27411179	Moderate	All Nexus	5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 29, 2016

Information Disclosure Vulnerability in AOSP Mail

An information disclosure vulnerability in AOSP Mail could enable a local malicious application to gain access to user’s private information. This issue is rated Moderate severity because it could be used to improperly access data without permission.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2458	27335139 [2]	Moderate	All Nexus	5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Feb 23, 2016

Information Disclosure Vulnerability in Mediaserver

An information disclosure vulnerability in Mediaserver could allow an application to access sensitive information. This issue is rated as Moderate severity because it could be used to improperly access data without permission.

CVE	Android bugs	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Updated AOSP versions	Date reported
CVE-2016-2459	27556038	Moderate	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 7, 2016
CVE-2016-2460	27555981	Moderate	All Nexus	4.4.4, 5.0.2, 5.1.1, 6.0, 6.0.1	Mar 7, 2016

Denial of Service Vulnerability in Kernel

A denial of service vulnerability in the kernel could allow a local malicious application to cause a device reboot. This issue is rated as Low severity because the effect is a temporary denial of service.

CVE	Android bug	Severity	Updated Nexus devices	Date reported
CVE-2016-0774	27721803*	Low	All Nexus	Mar 17, 2016

* The patch for this issue is available in Linux upstream.

Common Questions and Answers

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This section reviews answers to common questions that may occur after reading this bulletin.

1. How do I determine if my device is updated to address these issues?

Security Patch Levels of May 01, 2016 or later address these issues (refer to the Nexus documentation for instructions on how to check the security patch level). Device manufacturers that include these updates should set the patch string level to: [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2016-05-01]

2. How do I determine which Nexus devices are affected by each issue?

In the Security Vulnerability Details section, each table has an Updated Nexus devices column that covers the range of affected Nexus devices updated for each issue. This column has a few options:

• All Nexus devices: If an issue affects all Nexus devices, the table will have All Nexus in the Updated Nexus devices column. All Nexus encapsulates the following supported devices: Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9, Android One, Nexus Player, and Pixel C.
• Some Nexus devices: If an issue doesn’t affect all Nexus devices, the affected Nexus devices are listed in theUpdated Nexus devices column.
• No Nexus devices: If no Nexus devices are affected by the issue, the table will have “None” in the Updated Nexus devices column.

3. Why is CVE-2015-1805 included in this bulletin?

CVE-2015-1805 is included in this bulletin because the Android Security Advisory—2016-03-18 was published very close to the release of the April bulletin. Due to the tight timeline, device manufacturers were given the option to ship fixes from the Nexus Security Bulletin—April 2016, without the fix for CVE-2015-1805, if they used the April 01, 2016 Security Patch Level. It is included again in this bulletin as it must be fixed in order to use the the May 01, 2016 Security Patch Level.

Revisions

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• May 02, 2016: Bulletin published.
• May 04, 2016:
  • Bulletin revised to include AOSP links.
  • List of all Nexus devices updated to include Nexus Player and Pixel C.
  • CVE-2016-2447 updated to CVE-2016-4477, per MITRE request.

- wong chee tat :)