CVE-2020-3620
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 · uneditedu'Lack of check of integer overflow while doing a round up operation for data read from shared memory for G-link SMEM transport can lead to corruption and potential information leak' in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables, Snapdragon Wired Infrastructure and Networking in APQ8009, APQ8017, APQ8053, APQ8096AU, APQ8098, Bitra, IPQ6018, IPQ8074, Kamorta, MDM9150, MDM9205, MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9640, MDM9645, MDM9650, MDM9655, MSM8905, MSM8909, MSM8917, MSM8920, MSM8937, MSM8940, MSM8953, MSM8996, MSM8996AU, MSM8998, Nicobar, QCA8081, QCM2150, QCN7605, QCS404, QCS405, QCS605, QCS610, QM215, Rennell, SA415M, SA6155P, Saipan, SC7180, SC8180X, SDA660, SDA845, SDM429, SDM429W, SDM439, SDM450, SDM630, SDM632, SDM636, SDM660, SDM670, SDM710, SDM845, SDM850, SDX20, SDX24, SDX55, SM6150, SM7150, SM8150, SM8250, SXR1130, SXR2130
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 confidenceInteger overflow vulnerability in the G-link SMEM (shared memory) transport layer of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. During a round-up operation on data read from shared memory, the lack of overflow validation can cause the calculated size to wrap to a small value, leading to buffer overflows, memory corruption, and potential information disclosure when the incorrect size is used for subsequent memory operations.
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 Snapdragon processor modelCheck the device or board documentation, or use system information commands (e.g., 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on embedded Linux systems) to determine the exact Qualcomm APQ or MDM model numberAffected if The model matches Apq8009, Apq8053, Apq8096au, Apq8098, Bitra, Kamorta, Mdm9206, or Mdm9150
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Verify G-link SMEM transport is in useExamine the running firmware or software stack to determine if the G-link SMEM transport module is loaded and actively used for inter-processor communicationAffected if The G-link SMEM transport layer is present and enabled in the firmware or software configuration
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Check SMEM transport interface access controlsReview the configuration or security policy controlling which code modules can access the SMEM transport interface, typically found in firmware configuration files or kernel module settingsAffected if Untrusted or unsigned code has the ability to interface directly with the SMEM transport layer
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Review SMEM shared memory allocationsInspect the memory mapping or allocation tables for SMEM regions to identify if buffers are sized based on calculated round-up values without overflow validationAffected if The SMEM transport uses round-up calculations on sizes read from shared memory without validating for integer overflow before the calculation
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Audit SMEM buffer handling codeIf access to firmware binaries is available, analyze or search for code paths in the G-link SMEM transport that perform size round-up operations on data retrieved from shared memoryAffected if The firmware contains G-link SMEM transport code that performs round-up on sizes without overflow checks, enabling wrapped small values to be used for buffer operations
The environment is affected if it uses any of the listed Snapdragon firmware variants (Apq8009, Apq8053, Apq8096au, Apq8098, Bitra, Kamorta, Mdm9206, Mdm9150) with the G-link SMEM transport layer enabled and accessible to untrusted code.
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-supplied firmware updates from Qualcomm that include proper integer overflow checks before round-up calculations in the G-link SMEM transport. Until the patch is available, minimize exposure by restricting untrusted code from interfacing with the SMEM transport layer.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3620 — 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-2020-3620 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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