CVE-2019-11516
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom)...
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom) Wireless IoT codebase. Extended Inquiry Responses (EIRs) are improperly handled, which causes a heap-based buffer overflow during device inquiry. This overflow can be used to overwrite existing functions with arbitrary code. The Reserved for Future Use (RFU) bits are not discarded by eir_handleRx(), and are included in an EIR's length. Therefore, one can exceed the expected 240 bytes, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow in eir_getReceivedEIR() called by bthci_event_SendInquiryResultEvent(). In order to exploit this bug, an attacker must repeatedly connect to the victim's device in a short amount of time from different source addresses. This will cause the victim's Bluetooth stack to resolve the device names and therefore allocate buffers with attacker-controlled data. Due to the heap corruption, the name will be eventually written to an attacker-controlled location, leading to a write-what-where condition.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used 8.1
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom) Wireless IoT codebase. Extended Inquiry Responses (EIRs) are improperly handled, which causes a heap-based buffer overflow during device inquiry. This overflow can be used to overwrite existing functions with arbitrary code. The Reserved for Future Use (RFU) bits are not discarded by eir_handleRx(), and are included in an EIR's length. Therefore, one can exceed the expected 240 bytes, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow in eir_getReceivedEIR() called by bthci_event_SendInquiryResultEvent(). In order to exploit this bug, an attacker must repeatedly connect to the victim's device in a short amount of time from different source addresses. This will cause the victim's Bluetooth stack to resolve the device names and therefore allocate buffers with attacker-controlled data. Due to the heap corruption, the name will be eventually written to an attacker-controlled location, leading to a write-what-where condition.
- Record
CVE-2019-11516- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 6.8 Medium
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-787
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE ListNo score
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom) Wireless IoT codebase. Extended Inquiry Responses (EIRs) are improperly handled, which causes a heap-based buffer overflow during device inquiry. This overflow can be used to overwrite existing functions with arbitrary code. The Reserved for Future Use (RFU) bits are not discarded by eir_handleRx(), and are included in an EIR's length. Therefore, one can exceed the expected 240 bytes, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow in eir_getReceivedEIR() called by bthci_event_SendInquiryResultEvent(). In order to exploit this bug, an attacker must repeatedly connect to the victim's device in a short amount of time from different source addresses. This will cause the victim's Bluetooth stack to resolve the device names and therefore allocate buffers with attacker-controlled data. Due to the heap corruption, the name will be eventually written to an attacker-controlled location, leading to a write-what-where condition.
- Record
CVE-2019-11516- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2019-3187No score
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom) Wireless IoT codebase. Extended Inquiry Responses (EIRs) are improperly handled, which causes a heap-based buffer overflow during device inquiry. This overflow can be used to overwrite existing functions with arbitrary code. The Reserved for Future Use (RFU) bits are not discarded by eir_handleRx(), and are included in an EIR's length. Therefore, one can exceed the expected 240 bytes, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow in eir_getReceivedEIR() called by bthci_event_SendInquiryResultEvent(). In order to exploit this bug, an attacker must repeatedly connect to the victim's device in a short amount of time from different source addresses. This will cause the victim's Bluetooth stack to resolve the device names and therefore allocate buffers with attacker-controlled data. Due to the heap corruption, the name will be eventually written to an attacker-controlled location, leading to a write-what-where condition.
- Record
EUVD-2019-3187- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-6624-pmgq-j9j4No score
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom)...
An issue was discovered in the Bluetooth component of the Cypress (formerly owned by Broadcom) Wireless IoT codebase. Extended Inquiry Responses (EIRs) are improperly handled, which causes a heap-based buffer overflow during device inquiry. This overflow can be used to overwrite existing functions with arbitrary code. The Reserved for Future Use (RFU) bits are not discarded by eir_handleRx(), and are included in an EIR's length. Therefore, one can exceed the expected 240 bytes, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow in eir_getReceivedEIR() called by bthci_event_SendInquiryResultEvent(). In order to exploit this bug, an attacker must repeatedly connect to the victim's device in a short amount of time from different source addresses. This will cause the victim's Bluetooth stack to resolve the device names and therefore allocate buffers with attacker-controlled data. Due to the heap corruption, the name will be eventually written to an attacker-controlled location, leading to a write-what-where condition.
- Record
GHSA-6624-pmgq-j9j4- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2019-11516 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.1) in Google Android, published February 5, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.85%, the 58th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
source.android.com/security/bulletin/2019-08-01
cisecurity.org/advisory/multiple-vulnerabilities-in-google-android-os-could-allow-for-arbitrary-code-execution_2019-078
techrepublic.com/article/android-security-bulletin-august-2019-what-you-need-to-know
community.cypress.com/thread/53681
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-11516
github.com/advisories/GHSA-6624-pmgq-j9j4