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Mdm9150 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2018-5913

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-06-14
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
A non-time constant function memcmp is used which creates a side channel that could leak information in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables in MDM9150, MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9625, MDM9635M, MDM9640, MDM9650, MDM9655, MSM8909W, MSM8996AU, QCS405, QCS605, Qualcomm 215, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 410/12, SD 425, SD 427, SD 430, SD 435, SD 439 / SD 429, SD 450, SD 615/16/SD 415, SD 625, SD 632, SD 636, SD 650/52, SD 675, SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670, SD 730, SD 820, SD 820A, SD 835, SD 845 / SD 850, SD 855, 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 · high confidence

The vulnerability stems from the use of a non-constant-time memcmp implementation that creates a timing side channel. When comparing two memory regions, the function returns early upon finding the first differing byte, causing execution time to vary based on the location of the mismatch. An attacker can measure these timing differences to infer sensitive information such as passwords or cryptographic keys.

MitigationReplace all non-constant-time memcmp calls with a constant-time comparison function (e.g., timingsafe_bcmp, custom constant-time implementation) that compares all bytes regardless of differences.

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
Mdm9150 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9206 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9607 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9625 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9635m FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9640 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9650 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9655 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 chipset model
    Check the device hardware specifications or use commands like 'cat /proc/cpuinfo', 'lspci', or check boot logs to identify the Qualcomm MDM chipset (Mdm9150, Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9625, Mdm9635m, Mdm9640, Mdm9650, or Mdm9655)
    Affected if The chipset matches any of the affected models listed in the CVE (Mdm9150, Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9625, Mdm9635m, Mdm9640, Mdm9650, Mdm9655)
  2. Verify firmware version
    Check the installed firmware version using 'cat /proc/version', vendor-specific AT commands, or device management interfaces
    Affected if The firmware version cannot mitigate this issue because all versions of the affected chipsets are vulnerable per the CVE advisory
  3. Identify security-critical memcmp usage
    Review source code or binary firmware analysis to identify where memcmp is used for comparing sensitive data such as passwords, cryptographic keys, authentication tokens, or HMAC values
    Affected if The device uses memcmp for security-sensitive comparisons and runs on an affected chipset

If the device contains any of the listed Qualcomm MDM chipsets (Mdm9150, Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9625, Mdm9635m, Mdm9640, Mdm9650, or Mdm9655) and uses memcmp to compare sensitive data, the environment is affected by this timing side-channel vulnerability.

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

Replace all non-constant-time memcmp calls with a constant-time comparison function (e.g., timingsafe_bcmp, custom constant-time implementation) that compares all bytes regardless of differences.

Fix this in Mdm9150 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2018-5913 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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