CVE-2020-11181
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 access issue while handling cvp process control command due to improper validation of buffer pointer received from HLOS in Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile
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 confidenceOut-of-bounds access vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon chips (Compute, Connectivity, Consumer IOT, Industrial IOT, Mobile) where improper validation of a buffer pointer received from the High-Level Operating System (HLOS) during cvp process control command handling allows memory corruption.
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 PMIC model in your deviceCheck your device's hardware documentation, BOM, or system information to determine which Qualcomm PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) is present. Common locations include device schematics, FCC filings, or kernel dmesg logs that may list pm8009, pm8150, etc.Affected if The PMIC model matches one of: Pm3003a, Pm8009, Pm8150a, Pm8150b, Pm8150c, Pm8150l, Pm8250, or Pmk8002
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Determine the PMIC firmware versionAccess the PMIC firmware version through device diagnostic tools, manufacturer service menus, or by examining firmware binaries if you have root access. Use commands like cat /sys/class/power_supply/*/uevent or vendor-specific diagnostic utilities that expose PMIC version info.Affected if The firmware version cannot be determined or is present (the advisory states all versions of these PMICs are affected)
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Check if cvp (computer vision processor) is accessibleVerify whether the cvp device node or driver is loaded on your system. On Android devices, check /dev/cvp* or /sys/class/cvp entries. On Linux, examine lsmod for cvp modules and check /dev for cvp device files.Affected if The cvp device or driver is present and accessible to the HLOS (High-Level Operating System)
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Verify HLOS can send cvp process control commandsDetermine if user-space applications can interface with the cvp subsystem through standard APIs (such as Qualcomm's Camera or CV libraries). Check if cvp_ioctl or related ioctl calls are exposed and callable from the HLOS.Affected if HLOS applications have the ability to invoke cvp process control commands without special privileges
You are affected if your device contains one of the listed PMIC models (Pm3003a, Pm8009, Pm8150 variants, Pm8250, or Pmk8002) and the cvp (computer vision processor) feature is accessible from the High-Level Operating System.
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 patches from Qualcomm; device manufacturers must integrate and distribute updates to affected products.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11181 — 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-2020-11181 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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- 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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