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Ipq8074 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2018-11864

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-02-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Bytes can be written to fuses from Secure region which can be read later by HLOS in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wired Infrastructure and Networking in versions IPQ8074, MDM9150, MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9650, MDM9655, MSM8996AU, QCA8081, QCS605, 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 675, SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670, SD 820, SD 820A, SD 835, SD 845 / SD 850, SD 8CX, SDA660, SDM439, SDM630, SDM660, Snapdragon_High_Med_2016, SXR1130.

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 · moderate confidence

Fuse programming permissions are incorrectly configured, allowing data written to one-time programmable fuses from a Secure region to be readable by the High-Level Operating System (HLOS). This exposes potentially sensitive security-critical data that should remain confined to the secure environment.

MitigationApply vendor firmware/security updates from Qualcomm when available. Until then, treat any fuse-programmed data as potentially exposed to the HLOS and avoid using fuses for sensitive secrets.

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
Mdm9150 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9206 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9607 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9650 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9655 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Msm8996au FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qca8081 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
None
Availability
None

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

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 chipset model
    Check the processor/chipset information using commands like 'cat /proc/cpuinfo', 'dmesg | grep -i qualcomm', or check boot logs for the Qualcomm chipset identifier (e.g., ipq8074, mdm9150, mdm9206, mdm9607, mdm9650, mdm9655, msm8996au, qca8081)
    Affected if The chipset matches one of the affected models: Ipq8074, Mdm9150, Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Mdm9655, Msm8996au, or Qca8081
  2. Check firmware version
    Retrieve the firmware version from the device using 'cat /proc/version', 'cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model', or vendor-specific commands like 'cat /proc/athrs17_version' for router platforms. Compare against the affected version range.
    Affected if The device runs any firmware version on the affected Qualcomm chipsets listed above (all versions are affected)
  3. Identify secure world configuration
    Check if the device implements TrustZone or a secure world environment by reviewing boot logs for 'tz' or 'trustzone' references, or by examining /proc/tee for Trusted Execution Environment information
    Affected if The device uses a secure region (TrustZone) for sensitive operations, indicating the vulnerability potentially applies
  4. Check for fuse-related services
    Look for fuse programming or OTP (one-time programmable) services in the system by searching for 'fuse', 'otp', 'efuse' in /proc, /sys, or running processes using 'ps' or 'grep -r fuse /proc'
    Affected if The device implements fuse/OTP programming functionality, which is the attack surface for this vulnerability
  5. Verify data exposure from HLOS
    Attempt to read fuse data from the HLOS perspective using vendor-specific diagnostic interfaces if available (e.g., qfprom or similar nodes in /sys or /dev). Check if non-privileged users can access what should be secure fuse regions.
    Affected if Fuse data programmed from the secure region is readable by the HLOS (normal behavior for unaffected systems would be access denied or empty read)

A user is affected if their device uses any of the listed Qualcomm chipset firmware versions and implements fuse programming, since the vulnerable configuration allows secure-region fuse data to leak to the HLOS.

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/security updates from Qualcomm when available. Until then, treat any fuse-programmed data as potentially exposed to the HLOS and avoid using fuses for sensitive secrets.

Fix this in Ipq8074 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,120
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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-2018-11864 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