Apq8009 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2020-11190

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-17
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
Buffer over-read can happen while parsing received SDP values due to lack of NULL termination check on SDP in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables

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

A buffer over-read vulnerability exists in the SDP (Session Description Protocol) parsing implementation across multiple Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset families. The root cause is the absence of NULL termination validation when processing received SDP values, allowing an attacker to read beyond buffer boundaries. This memory safety flaw can potentially enable information disclosure or code execution with high complexity exploitation requirements.

MitigationApply Qualcomm-provided firmware updates for affected Snapdragon chipset families. Until patches are available, implement network-level filtering of SDP content and validate SDP input lengths before processing.

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
Apq8009 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8009w FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8017 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8037 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8053 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8084 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8096au FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Aqt1000 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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 chipset model
    Check the device specifications or system information to confirm the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset in use (e.g., via 'getprop' on Android, or device documentation)
    Affected if The chipset is one of: Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8037, Apq8053, Apq8084, Apq8096au, or Aqt1000
  2. Check firmware version
    Retrieve the firmware version from the device (e.g., via 'getprop ro.build.version.firmware' on Android, or modem firmware version via AT commands)
    Affected if The firmware version matches any of the listed affected chipsets regardless of version (all versions are affected per the CVE)
  3. Confirm SDP processing is in use
    Identify if the device handles SDP (Session Description Protocol) traffic, typically in VoIP, WebRTC, or video calling implementations. Check process logs or network services for SDP parsing components.
    Affected if The device processes, sends, or receives SDP data as part of its normal operation (SDP parsing is the vulnerable code path)
  4. Inspect SDP input validation
    If you have access to the application or service handling SDP, examine whether NULL termination and length validation are performed on SDP values before processing
    Affected if No explicit NULL termination check or length validation is performed on incoming SDP values before buffer operations

The device is affected if it uses any of the listed Snapdragon chipset models (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8037, Apq8053, Apq8084, Apq8096au, or Aqt1000) and processes SDP data without additional input validation layers.

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-provided firmware updates for affected Snapdragon chipset families. Until patches are available, implement network-level filtering of SDP content and validate SDP input lengths before processing.

Fix this in Apq8009 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation12.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
60.0 hours of engineering $10,560
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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-2020-11190 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