CVE-2020-11238
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 · uneditedPossible Buffer over-read in ARP/NS parsing due to lack of check of packet length received in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics 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 · high confidenceBuffer over-read vulnerability in ARP/NS (Address Resolution Protocol/Neighbor Discovery) packet parsing code in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. The vulnerability stems from missing validation of packet length before processing, allowing specially crafted network packets to read beyond buffer boundaries.
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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Qualcomm chip modelCheck system documentation, device inventory, or use commands like 'lspci', 'lsusb', or check network device specifications to identify the specific Qualcomm chipset or network controller in useAffected if The device uses any of these models: Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Ar8151, Ar9380, Csr8811, Csra6620, or Csra6640
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Check firmware version of Qualcomm network componentUse vendor-specific tools or commands to query the firmware version of the identified Qualcomm chip (for example, using 'ethtool -i' for network interfaces, or vendor diagnostic tools)Affected if The firmware version matches any of the affected products listed (all versions are vulnerable)
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Determine if ARP/NS packet processing is enabledVerify that the network interface associated with the Qualcomm chip has ARP/neighbor discovery processing enabled. This may involve checking interface configuration with 'ip neigh show' or reviewing network interface settingsAffected if ARP processing or Neighbor Discovery is active on the affected network interface
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Inspect network traffic for malformed ARP/NS packetsUse network capture tools such as tcpdump or Wireshark to monitor ARP and NS packets arriving at the interface, looking for packets that deviate from standard RFC specificationsAffected if Malformed ARP/NS packets are being received and processed by the affected device
A user is affected if their system incorporates any of the listed Qualcomm chip models and processes ARP or Neighbor Discovery packets on that interface, regardless of firmware version since all versions are vulnerable.
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 containing the Qualcomm patch. Network-level filtering of malformed ARP/NS packets may provide interim protection.
- Consultation16.0 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-2020-11238 — 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-2020-11238 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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