Apq8009Hardware / appliance · Qualcomm

CVE-2020-11283

CRITICAL · 9.8 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 →
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
A buffer overflow can occur when playing an MKV clip due to lack of input validation in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial 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 · high confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets due to insufficient input validation when parsing MKV video files. The lack of proper bounds checking during video playback allows an attacker to overwrite memory by crafting a malicious MKV file, potentially achieving remote code execution.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware patches from Qualcomm and ensure device manufacturers' security updates are deployed. Until patches are available, avoid playing untrusted MKV files from unknown sources.

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
Apq8009Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Apq8009wHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Apq8017Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Apq8053Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Apq8064auHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Apq8096auHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Aqt1000Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
Ar8031Hardware / appliance
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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 the chipset model
    Determine the specific Qualcomm chipset model used in the device (e.g., through system information, device specifications, or /proc/cpuinfo on Linux-based embedded systems)
    Affected if The chipset matches any of these models: Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8053, Apq8064au, Apq8096au, Aqt1000, or Ar8031
  2. Confirm MKV playback capability
    Check whether the device or software stack supports MKV video file decoding or has video playback libraries that handle MKV containers
    Affected if MKV video parsing or playback functionality is present and enabled on the system
  3. Verify video processing components
    Inspect installed video codecs, multimedia frameworks, or firmware modules related to video parsing (look for libavformat, ffmpeg, or vendor-specific video SDKs)
    Affected if Video parsing components that handle MKV containers are installed or loaded on the device
  4. Assess exposure to untrusted content
    Determine whether the device can process MKV files from external sources, network streams, or untrusted input (e.g., media player apps, file browsers, video processing services)
    Affected if The device can parse or play MKV files from sources outside the trusted software supply chain

The device is affected if it uses any of the listed Qualcomm chipset models (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8053, Apq8064au, Apq8096au, Aqt1000, Ar8031) and has MKV video playback capability enabled, making it vulnerable when processing malicious MKV files.

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-supplied firmware patches from Qualcomm and ensure device manufacturers' security updates are deployed. Until patches are available, avoid playing untrusted MKV files from unknown sources.

Fix this in Apq8009 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11283 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-11283 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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