CVE-2020-11170
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 · uneditedOut of bound memory access while playing music playbacks with crafted vorbis content due to improper checks in header extraction in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables, Snapdragon Wired Infrastructure and Networking
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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon processors where improper bounds checking during vorbis audio header extraction allows out-of-bounds memory access when processing crafted vorbis audio files, leading to potential code execution.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the processor modelOn Android devices, check /proc/cpuinfo for the processor name, or use system information apps to identify the chipset. Look for identifiers such as APQ8009, APQ8009W, APQ8017, APQ8030, APQ8037, APQ8052, APQ8053, or APQ8056.Affected if The device uses any of the listed APQ processor models (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8030, Apq8037, Apq8052, Apq8053, Apq8056).
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Confirm the SoC/firmware is from QualcommVerify the device runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon-based system-on-chip. Check device specifications, boot logs, or baseband information (/proc/bootinfo or *#*#4636#*#* on Android).Affected if The device firmware is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.
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Check if vorbis audio decoding is supportedVerify that the device supports or has enabled vorbis audio codec. This can be checked by examining audio codec support in system information, or by attempting to play a vorbis audio file (.ogg) and observing if decoding occurs.Affected if Vorbis audio decoding is enabled and the device processes vorbis audio files.
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Review baseband and firmware versionCheck the baseband version (in Android settings under About Phone > Baseband version) or modem firmware version. Compare against any available version information from the device manufacturer.Affected if The firmware version is an unpatched release for the listed APQ processors (all versions are affected per the advisory).
A device is affected if it contains any of the affected APQ processors (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8030, Apq8037, Apq8052, Apq8053, Apq8056) and supports vorbis audio processing, as the vulnerability allows code execution when processing crafted vorbis audio files.
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-supplied firmware updates from Qualcomm to affected Snapdragon-based devices. Prioritize mobile phones, IoT devices, and wearables given the fragmented update ecosystem.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11170 — 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-2020-11170 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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