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Apq8009 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2020-11221

MEDIUM · 5.5 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 →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Usage of syscall by non-secure entity can allow extraction of secure QTEE diagnostic information in clear text form due to insufficient checks in the syscall handler and leads to information disclosure in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, 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 confidence

A syscall handler in Qualcomm processors fails to properly validate whether a calling entity has sufficient privileges to access QTEE (Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment) diagnostic data. This allows non-secure or unprivileged entities to use syscalls to extract sensitive diagnostic information from the secure QTEE in plaintext form due to insufficient authorization checks.

MitigationApply vendor-provided firmware/microcode updates for affected Snapdragon chipsets; contact Qualcomm and device OEMs for applicable patches. This is a hardware/firmware-level issue requiring updates from the chipset vendor and downstream device manufacturers.

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 chipset model
    Check /proc/cpuinfo, or run 'lspci -v' on embedded devices, or check device/system information via 'getprop' on Android devices. Look for Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8037, Apq8053, Apq8084, Aqt1000, or Apq8096au identifiers.
    Affected if The chipset model matches one of the affected variants: Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8037, Apq8053, Apq8084, Aqt1000, or Apq8096au.
  2. Determine the firmware version
    Query the baseband or firmware version through device-specific interfaces. On Android, use 'getprop' to check ro.build.version.all_codenames, ro.mediatek.version.release, or vendor-specific properties. Check /sys/firmware/attestation for version strings if accessible.
    Affected if The firmware version corresponds to one of the affected products listed in the CVE (all versions of the specified firmware variants).
  3. Verify QTEE diagnostic syscall availability
    Check if the QTEE diagnostic interface is exposed. Look for /dev/tee* or /dev/qtee* device nodes. On Android, enumerate TEE drivers via 'ls -la /dev/tee*' and check for diagnostic-related syscalls in /proc/ or /sys/kernel/debug/.
    Affected if The QTEE diagnostic device nodes or syscalls are present and accessible to non-secure or unprivileged callers.
  4. Test for unprivileged access to TEE diagnostics
    Attempt to access TEE diagnostic interfaces from a non-privileged context. Check if unprivileged users or applications can invoke syscalls related to QTEE diagnostics (look for SGX/TEE diagnostic calls in /proc/syscall or trace with strace).
    Affected if Unprivileged or non-secure entities can successfully invoke QTEE diagnostic syscalls without authorization failures.

The device is affected if it uses one of the listed Qualcomm chipset firmware variants (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8037, Apq8053, Apq8084, Aqt1000, or Apq8096au) and the QTEE diagnostic syscall interface is accessible to unprivileged callers.

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-provided firmware/microcode updates for affected Snapdragon chipsets; contact Qualcomm and device OEMs for applicable patches. This is a hardware/firmware-level issue requiring updates from the chipset vendor and downstream device manufacturers.

Fix this in Apq8009 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
42.0 hours of engineering $7,320
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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-2020-11221 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