CVE-2020-3691
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 · uneditedPossible out of bound memory access in audio due to integer underflow while processing modified contents 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 · moderate confidenceInteger underflow in audio processing code allows out-of-bounds memory access when processing modified audio contents. This occurs due to insufficient validation of integer values before performing memory offset calculations, potentially allowing attackers to read or write beyond allocated buffers.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Qualcomm chipset model in your device or systemCheck the system information, device specs, or /proc/cpuinfo on Linux-based embedded devices to determine the APQ model numberAffected if The chipset is any of: Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Apq8030, Apq8037, Apq8052, Apq8053, or Apq8056
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Confirm the device runs an unpatched firmware versionQuery the device firmware version against vendor release notes or check /etc/version if accessible; compare against any available Qualcomm patch dates for this CVEAffected if The firmware has not received the vendor patch for CVE-2020-3691 and the chipset matches an affected model
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Determine if audio processing functionality is in useIdentify whether the device or application processes audio files, streams, or audio input through the Qualcomm audio subsystem; check for active audio services or audio codec usageAffected if Audio processing features are enabled and the device handles audio content that could trigger the vulnerable code path
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Assess network exposure of audio processing componentsReview network-facing services that handle audio content; check if external audio input or audio file processing is accessible over the networkAffected if Audio processing code is exposed to untrusted audio input from network sources, enabling remote trigger of the vulnerable code path
You are affected if your device uses any of the listed Qualcomm APQ chipsets (8009, 8009w, 8017, 8030, 8037, 8052, 8053, 8056) with unpatched firmware and processes audio content through the vulnerable subsystem.
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 from Qualcomm for affected Snapdragon product lines. Prioritize critical systems given the CVSS 9.8 severity and network-exploitable attack vector.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing16.0 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 $8,704.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3691 — 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-2020-3691 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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