dbcve.org
Mdm9650 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2019-2256

CRITICAL · 9.8 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 →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
An unprivileged user can craft a bitstream such that the payload encoded in the bitstream gains code execution in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables in MDM9650, MSM8909W, MSM8996AU, QCS605, Qualcomm 215, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 425, SD 427, SD 430, SD 435, SD 439 / SD 429, SD 450, SD 625, SD 632, SD 636, SD 675, SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670, 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 · moderate confidence

An unprivileged user can craft a malicious bitstream that, when processed by the affected Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, results in arbitrary code execution. This is a critical vulnerability in the bitstream parsing/processing logic that allows privilege escalation from an unprivileged context to full code execution on the target device.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware/microcode updates from Qualcomm. This is a hardware/firmware-level vulnerability requiring patches from the chip manufacturer; work with device OEMs to obtain and deploy appropriate firmware updates for affected products.

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
Mdm9650 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Msm8909w FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Msm8996au FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcs605 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qm215 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 210 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 212 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd 205 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 chip or firmware model
    Check the device/system information to find the specific Qualcomm Snapdragon model number or firmware identifier. On Android devices, this can often be found in Settings > About Phone > Hardware info, or via terminal commands that display system properties related to the baseband or processor.
    Affected if The displayed model or firmware identifier matches any of these: Mdm9650, Msm8909w, Msm8996au, Qcs605, Qm215, Sd 210, Sd 212, or Sd 205.
  2. Confirm firmware version is present
    Retrieve the firmware or baseband version string from the device. This is typically shown in the same system information area or via diagnostic logs.
    Affected if A firmware version is reported and the model identifier from the previous step matches the affected list.
  3. Verify all versions are affected
    Since the advisory indicates all versions of the listed firmware products are affected, compare your identified model and version against the affected list.
    Affected if The identified firmware belongs to any of the affected products regardless of version number.
  4. Check if bitstream processing is in use
    Determine whether the device or application makes use of bitstream parsing or processing functionality. This may require reviewing enabled features, running services, or configuration settings related to media or data stream handling.
    Affected if Bitstream parsing or processing features are enabled on a device running affected firmware.

A user is affected if their device runs firmware from any of the listed Qualcomm models (Mdm9650, Msm8909w, Msm8996au, Qcs605, Qm215, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205) and utilizes bitstream processing functionality.

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-supplied firmware/microcode updates from Qualcomm. This is a hardware/firmware-level vulnerability requiring patches from the chip manufacturer; work with device OEMs to obtain and deploy appropriate firmware updates for affected products.

Fix this in Mdm9650 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,160
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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-2019-2256 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