CVE-2020-11121
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 · uneditedu'Possible buffer overflow in WIFI hal process due to usage of memcpy without checking length of destination buffer' in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile in QCM4290, QCS4290, QM215, QSM8350, SA6145P, SA6155, SA6155P, SA8155, SA8155P, SC8180X, SC8180XP, SDX55, SDX55M, SM4250, SM4250P, SM6115, SM6115P, SM6125, SM6250, SM6350, SM7125, SM7225, SM7250, SM7250P, SM8150, SM8150P, SM8250, SM8350, SM8350P, SXR2130, SXR2130P
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in the WiFi Hardware Abstraction Layer (hal) process due to unsafe use of memcpy() without validating the source data length against the destination buffer size. This memory corruption flaw in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets could allow local privilege escalation or denial of service.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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:3.1/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the device chipset modelCheck the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset model in your device. This can typically be found via system information utilities, device specifications, or by querying hardware information (e.g., 'lspci' for PCIe devices, 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on some systems, or vendor-specific diagnostic tools).Affected if The chipset model matches one of the affected models: Qcm4290, Qcs4290, Qm215, Qsm8350, Sa6145p, Sa6155, Sa6155p, or Sa8155
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Check the firmware versionQuery the WiFi firmware version running on the chipset. This is often available through WiFi driver diagnostics, firmware management interfaces, or vendor-specific tools. The exact command or method varies by device and operating system.Affected if The firmware version is any version of the affected chipsets, as all versions are vulnerable
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Verify WiFi is enabledCheck if WiFi functionality is active on the device. This can be done by checking WiFi status in the operating system network settings, or by verifying the WiFi interface state (e.g., 'ip link show' or 'iwconfig' on Linux-based systems).Affected if WiFi is enabled and the WiFi HAL process is loaded, since the vulnerability exists in the WiFi Hardware Abstraction Layer component
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Confirm WiFi HAL process is runningIdentify and verify the WiFi HAL process is active. The exact process name varies by platform and Qualcomm implementation (commonly visible in process lists or system diagnostics). Check for a WiFi-related HAL or hardware abstraction layer process.Affected if The WiFi HAL process is running on a vulnerable chipset model, indicating the attack surface is present
A device is affected if it contains any of the listed Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset models (Qcm4290, Qcs4290, Qm215, Qsm8350, Sa6145p, Sa6155, Sa6155p, Sa8155) and has WiFi functionality enabled, since all firmware versions of these chipsets contain the unsafe memcpy() in the WiFi HAL.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply vendor firmware updates for affected Snapdragon chipsets. Contact device OEMs for specific patch availability and deployment schedules.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation40.0 h
- Testing24.0 h
- Review / QA12.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $23,296.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11121 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-11121 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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
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