CVE-2020-11265
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 · uneditedInformation disclosure issue due to lack of validation of pointer arguments passed to TZ BSP in 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 confidenceThis is an information disclosure vulnerability in the Trust Zone (TZ) Board Support Package (BSP) of Snapdragon Wired Infrastructure and Networking chips. The issue stems from insufficient validation of pointer arguments passed to the TZ BSP, which could allow an attacker to access sensitive information through improper pointer handling.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the chipset modelCheck the device documentation, boot logs, or hardware identification to determine if the system uses one of the affected Qualcomm chips: Ar7420, Ar9580, Csr8811, Ipq4018, Ipq4019, Ipq4028, Ipq4029, or Qca10901. This can often be found via 'lspci', 'cat /proc/cpuinfo', or vendor hardware specifications.Affected if The device contains any of the listed Qualcomm chip models.
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Check the firmware versionRetrieve the installed firmware version through vendor-specific interfaces (such as U-boot, JTAG, debug serial, or management console). For these Qualcomm chips, firmware version information is typically exposed via bootloader messages, /proc/version, or vendor management interfaces.Affected if The firmware version corresponds to any version of the listed affected chips (all versions are affected per the advisory).
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Verify Trust Zone is enabledCheck if Trust Zone (TZ) is active on the system. This can be done by examining secure boot status, TZ-related kernel parameters, or by querying secure monitor mode if accessible via 'secure_status' or similar vendor-specific debug commands.Affected if Trust Zone is present and operational on the affected hardware.
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Inspect TZ BSP configurationExamine the Trust Zone Board Support Package configuration files or memory regions if accessible through debug interfaces. Look for BSP version strings or pointer validation settings in the secure firmware image.Affected if The TZ BSP is running without proper pointer argument validation, which is the default state for all unpatched versions listed.
You are affected if your device uses any of the listed Qualcomm chips (Ar7420, Ar9580, Csr8811, Ipq4018, Ipq4019, Ipq4028, Ipq4029, Qca10901) with Trust Zone enabled and the TZ BSP has not been patched to validate pointer arguments.
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 the vendor-provided patch for the TZ BSP that implements proper pointer validation. This is a firmware-level fix requiring coordination with Qualcomm for the updated BSP.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11265 — 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-2020-11265 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
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