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Mdm9206 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2019-2235

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-07-25
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
Buffer overflow occurs when emulated RPMB is used due to sector size assumptions in the TA rollback protection logic. 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 MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9650, MDM9655, MSM8996AU, QCS404, QCS605, Qualcomm 215, SD 410/12, SD 425, SD 427, SD 430, SD 435, SD 439 / SD 429, SD 450, SD 625, SD 632, SD 636, 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 · high confidence

Buffer overflow vulnerability in emulated RPMB (Replay Protected Memory Block) storage due to incorrect sector size assumptions in the Trusted Application rollback protection logic. The flaw allows memory corruption in the secure domain when RPMB emulation processes operations with mismatched sector size parameters, potentially enabling privilege escalation or code execution in the Trusted Execution Environment.

MitigationApply Qualcomm firmware/hardware updates provided through device manufacturers. This is a low-level firmware vulnerability with no practical user-facing workarounds; affected devices require vendor-supplied patches.

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
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
Qcs404 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcs605 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qualcomm 215 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 Qualcomm chipset model
    Check /proc/cpuinfo, /sys/devices/system/cpu/, or use 'lspci' (for embedded devices check /proc/device-tree/compatible or AT commands). Look for model identifiers: Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Mdm9655, Msm8996au, Qcs404, Qcs605, or Qualcomm 215.
    Affected if The chipset matches any of the affected models listed in the CVE (Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Mdm9655, Msm8996au, Qcs404, Qcs605, or Qualcomm 215).
  2. Check the baseband or firmware version
    Query the baseband firmware version via AT command 'AT+CGMR' (for modems), check /sys/kernel/debug/version, or use manufacturer-provided tools. Compare against any available version information from the vendor.
    Affected if The device runs any firmware version on the affected Qualcomm chipsets - the CVE states all versions of the listed products are affected.
  3. Verify RPMB emulation is in use
    Check for RPMB device nodes (ls /dev/block/*rpmb* or ls /sys/class/mmc_host/), look for 'rpmb' in kernel config (/proc/config.gz), or check if emulated RPMB is exposed to the host system. The vulnerability triggers when RPMB emulation processes operations.
    Affected if RPMB emulation is enabled and the device uses the affected Qualcomm firmware - the flaw is in the RPMB emulation layer in the secure domain.
  4. Confirm Trusted Execution Environment presence
    Check for TEE/TrustZone status: look for /dev/tee* devices, check /sys/class/misc/tee*, or use 'getprop' (Android) to query ro.hardware.gatekeeper or ro.hardware.trustonic. The vulnerability enables code execution in the TEE.
    Affected if The device implements TEE/TrustZone (standard on affected Qualcomm chipsets) and uses the vulnerable RPMB emulation in the secure domain.

If the device uses any of the listed Qualcomm chipset models (Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Mdm9655, Msm8996au, Qcs404, Qcs605, or Qualcomm 215) with any firmware version and has RPMB emulation enabled, the environment is affected by this 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

Apply Qualcomm firmware/hardware updates provided through device manufacturers. This is a low-level firmware vulnerability with no practical user-facing workarounds; affected devices require vendor-supplied patches.

Fix this in Mdm9206 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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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-2019-2235 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