CVE-2020-3685
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 · uneditedPointer variable which is freed is not cleared can result in memory corruption and leads to denial of service in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables, 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 · high confidenceA use-after-free vulnerability exists where a pointer variable is freed but not cleared (set to NULL), leading to memory corruption. An attacker could potentially access the freed memory location, causing denial of service. This affects multiple Snapdragon chipset product lines.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed chipset modelCheck system information or device specifications to determine the exact Qualcomm APQ chipset model in use. This can typically be found in /proc/cpuinfo on Linux, system settings on Android, or through dmidecode on servers.Affected if The system uses any of the following chipsets: Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8030, Apq8037, Apq8052, Apq8053, or Apq8056.
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Determine the firmware version of the chipsetQuery the Qualcomm modem or subsystem firmware version through manufacturer-specific tools, AT commands on modems, or through the /sys or /proc filesystem entries that expose firmware revision information.Affected if The firmware version is not documented as patched or updated by Qualcomm for CVE-2020-3685.
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Check if the vulnerable memory management component is activeDetermine if the specific subsystem using the vulnerable pointer (typically in the DSP, modem, or wireless component firmware) is running. Monitor subsystem status through vendor diagnostic interfaces.Affected if The vulnerable subsystem is active and the firmware has not been patched.
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Verify vendor patch statusContact the device or system manufacturer to confirm whether the CVE-2020-3685 patch has been applied to the chipset firmware. Check release notes or security advisories from the OEM/ODM.Affected if The manufacturer has not confirmed that the patch for this specific CVE has been applied.
You are affected if your device or system contains any of the listed Qualcomm APQ chipsets (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8030, Apq8037, Apq8052, Apq8053, Apq8056) and the firmware has not been updated with the vendor fix.
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-provided patches and firmware updates from Qualcomm for affected Snapdragon components. Ensure proper memory management practices and validate that freed pointers are cleared to prevent use-after-free conditions.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3685 — 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-2020-3685 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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