Apq8009 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2020-11285

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-07
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
Buffer over-read while unpacking the RTCP packet we may read extra byte if wrong length is provided in RTCP packets in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon 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 · moderate confidence

A buffer over-read vulnerability exists in the RTCP (Real-time Transport Control Protocol) packet unpacking functionality across multiple Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset families. When processing RTCP packets with a malformed or incorrect length field, the code may read beyond the allocated buffer boundary, potentially exposing sensitive memory contents to an attacker.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware/BIOS updates for affected Snapdragon devices. In the interim, network-level filtering of malformed RTCP packets may provide partial mitigation.

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

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

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

  1. Identify the chipset model
    Check the device hardware specifications or system information to determine the Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ chipset model (e.g., APQ8009, APQ8017, APQ8053, etc.)
    Affected if The chipset is one of: APQ8009, APQ8009w, APQ8017, APQ8037, APQ8053, APQ8084, Aqt1000, or Apq8096au
  2. Confirm firmware version
    Retrieve the firmware version from the device's system settings, boot logs, or via AT command interface (for mobile devices). Compare against the affected product list.
    Affected if The firmware version corresponds to any of the listed affected products (all versions of each listed product are affected)
  3. Verify RTCP functionality is active
    Check if the device is configured to process or route real-time media streams (VoIP, video conferencing, WebRTC applications) which would involve RTCP packet handling. Inspect active network processes or services that handle RTP/RTCP protocols.
    Affected if The device processes RTP/RTCP traffic, making the RTCP packet unpacking code reachable
  4. Monitor for malformed RTCP packets
    Capture network traffic on interfaces handling real-time media and inspect RTCP packets for anomalies in the length field or malformed packet structures. Use tools like Wireshark with RTP analysis plugins.
    Affected if Malformed RTCP packets with incorrect length fields are being processed by the device
  5. Check for exposed sensitive memory
    Review application and system logs for any indications of memory disclosure, unexpected memory reads, or crashes originating from RTCP processing components.
    Affected if Logs show anomalous memory access patterns or crashes during RTCP packet handling

The device is affected if it uses any of the listed Qualcomm APQ chipset models (all versions) and actively processes RTCP traffic, allowing malformed packets to trigger the buffer over-read in the RTCP unpacking code.

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/BIOS updates for affected Snapdragon devices. In the interim, network-level filtering of malformed RTCP packets may provide partial mitigation.

Fix this in Apq8009 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $6,920
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Scan for this in your stack

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Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11285 — 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-2020-11285 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