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Ipq8074 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2017-18141

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-01-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
When a 3rd party TEE has been loaded it is possible for the non-secure world to create a secure monitor call which will give it access to privileged functions meant to only be accessible from the TEE in Snapdragon Automobile, Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Wear in versions IPQ8074, MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9635M, MDM9650, MDM9655, MSM8996AU, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 410/12, SD 425, SD 427, SD 430, SD 435, SD 439 / SD 429, SD 450, SD 625, SD 632, SD 636, SD 650/52, SD 810, SD 820, SD 820A, SD 835, SDA660, SDM439, SDM630, SDM660, SDX24, Snapdragon_High_Med_2016.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

When a 3rd party TEE is loaded on affected Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, the non-secure world can craft secure monitor calls that bypass isolation boundaries and gain access to privileged TEE functions that should only be accessible from within the TEE itself, leading to privilege escalation.

MitigationApply vendor firmware patches for affected Snapdragon processors. This is a hardware/firmware-level vulnerability requiring updates from Qualcomm and downstream device manufacturers.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ipq8074 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9206 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9607 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9635m FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9650 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9655 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Msm8996au FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 210 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the processor model
    Check /proc/cpuinfo or use 'lscpu' command to identify the CPU/processor model. Look for model names matching: Ipq8074, Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9635m, Mdm9650, Mdm9655, Msm8996au, or Sd 210.
    Affected if The processor model matches any of the listed affected Qualcomm Snapdragon variants.
  2. Verify if a 3rd party TEE is loaded
    Check for the presence of TEE drivers or services. Look for /dev/tee* entries, check ls /sys/class/misc/ for tee devices, or inspect dmesg output for TEE-related messages. Query the system's security subsystems for TEE status.
    Affected if A 3rd party TEE (not the primary Qualcomm-provided TEE) is loaded and active on the system.
  3. Check secure monitor configuration
    Examine system logs and security configurations for secure monitor call patterns. On Android devices, check /d/ (debugfs) for trustzone or secure monitor information. Look for any non-standard or custom secure monitor implementations.
    Affected if A custom or 3rd party secure monitor is configured that could accept crafted secure monitor calls from the non-secure world.
  4. Inspect firmware version
    Query the bootloader or TZ (Trust Zone) firmware version through available diagnostic interfaces. On Android, check /vendor or /firmware partitions for version strings, or use 'getprop' for build fingerprints that may indicate firmware versions.
    Affected if The firmware version cannot be determined to have the vendor patch applied, or is confirmed to be an unpatched version of any listed affected product.

You are affected if your device uses any of the listed Qualcomm Snapdragon processors (all versions) and has a 3rd party TEE loaded with a custom secure monitor that accepts calls from the non-secure world.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor firmware patches for affected Snapdragon processors. This is a hardware/firmware-level vulnerability requiring updates from Qualcomm and downstream device manufacturers.

Fix this in Ipq8074 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-18141 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data