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Pm3003a FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2020-11277

HIGH · 7.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
79/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Possible race condition during async fastrpc session after sending RPC message due to the fastrpc ctx gets free during async session in Snapdragon Compute, 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 confidence

A race condition exists in the Qualcomm fastrpc (Fast RPC) driver where the fastrpc context (ctx) can be freed during an async RPC session after the RPC message is sent. This creates a use-after-free scenario that could be exploited for privilege escalation or denial of service on affected Snapdragon Compute, Industrial IOT, and Mobile devices.

MitigationApply vendor firmware updates (patch level March 2021 or later) from device manufacturers that include the Qualcomm fix for proper synchronization of fastrpc context lifecycle during async sessions. Until then, limit device exposure to trusted applications and monitor for unusual behavior.

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
Pm3003a FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm4250 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm6125 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm6150a FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm6150l FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm6350 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm7150a FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Pm7150l 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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify PMIC hardware on the device
    Query the system for Power Management IC identifiers using commands like 'cat /sys/class/power_supply/*/name', 'dmesg | grep -i pm3003', 'dmesg | grep -i pm4250', 'dmesg | grep -i pm6125', 'dmesg | grep -i pm6150', 'dmesg | grep -i pm6350', or 'dmesg | grep -i pm7150' to locate Qualcomm PMICs
    Affected if Any of the following PMICs are present: Pm3003a, Pm4250, Pm6125, Pm6150a, Pm6150l, Pm6350, Pm7150a, or Pm7150l
  2. Verify the PMIC firmware version
    Read the firmware version from the PMIC via sysfs (e.g., 'cat /sys/class/power_supply/*/firmware_version') or via debugfs 'cat /d/fastrpc/*' if available, comparing against vendor release notes
    Affected if The firmware version cannot be determined or is earlier than the March 2021 patch level (all versions of the listed PMICs are affected)
  3. Confirm fastrpc driver is loaded
    Check if the fastrpc kernel module is present and active using 'lsmod | grep fastrpc' or 'cat /proc/modules | grep fastrpc', or check for fastrpc device nodes 'ls -la /dev/fastrpc*'
    Affected if The fastrpc driver is loaded and the device node exists
  4. Check for async RPC session activity
    Monitor or inspect active RPC sessions via 'cat /d/fastrpc/*/sessions' or use tracing tools like 'strace' or 'ftrace' on fastrpc-related system calls if the driver supports debugging
    Affected if Async RPC sessions are actively being processed by the fastrpc driver
  5. Verify system patch level
    Check the Android security patch level via 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' or Linux kernel build date via 'uname -a', looking for dates on or after March 2021
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than March 2021 or cannot be verified

The device is affected if it contains any of the listed Qualcomm PMICs (Pm3003a, Pm4250, Pm6125, Pm6150a, Pm6150l, Pm6350, Pm7150a, Pm7150l) and is running firmware with a patch level earlier than March 2021, with the fastrpc driver loaded and actively handling async RPC sessions.

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 firmware updates (patch level March 2021 or later) from device manufacturers that include the Qualcomm fix for proper synchronization of fastrpc context lifecycle during async sessions. Until then, limit device exposure to trusted applications and monitor for unusual behavior.

Fix this in Pm3003a Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation12.0 h
  • Implementation32.0 h
  • Testing24.0 h
  • Review / QA16.0 h
84.0 hours of engineering $14,640
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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-2020-11277 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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