CVE-2021-1917
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 · uneditedNull pointer dereference can occur due to memory allocation failure in DIAG in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, 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 confidenceA null pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the DIAG (diagnostic) component of multiple Snapdragon chipset families. The issue stems from improper error handling when memory allocation fails - instead of gracefully handling the allocation failure, the code attempts to dereference a null pointer, potentially causing a denial of service or potentially enabling arbitrary code execution.
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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 Snapdragon chipset modelOn Android devices, check /proc/cpuinfo or use 'lspci' for PCI devices, or check device specifications from manufacturer. On Linux embedded systems, check /proc/cpuinfo, dmesg boot logs, or /sys/devices/soc0/ familyAffected if The chipset model matches one of: APQ8017, APQ8053, AQT1000, MSM8917, MSM8953, QCA6174A, QCA6390, or QCA6391
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Confirm firmware version is within affected rangeQuery the firmware version via diagnostic interfaces (such as AT commands on modem, or via Qualcomm tools like QPST for mobile devices). Check device or modem firmware version strings.Affected if All firmware versions are affected for the listed chipsets - if the chipset model matches and has DIAG accessible, the device is vulnerable
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Verify DIAG diagnostic interface is accessibleCheck if the DIAG subsystem is exposed. On Android, check for /dev/diag or /dev/diag_mdlog device nodes. Verify if USB diagnostic mode is enabled (often toggled via developer options or *#*#4636#*#*). On embedded systems, check for diagnostic ports or interfaces listening on debug interfaces.Affected if The DIAG component is enabled and accessible - the vulnerability triggers when DIAG processes certain requests while handling memory allocation failures
If your device uses one of the affected Snapdragon chipset models (APQ8017, APQ8053, AQT1000, MSM8917, MSM8953, QCA6174A, QCA6390, QCA6391) and the DIAG diagnostic interface is accessible/enabled, your environment is affected by CVE-2021-1917.
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 firmware updates provided by Qualcomm and device OEMs. Since this affects multiple Snapdragon product lines (Auto, Compute, Connectivity, Industrial IOT, Wearables), inventory all affected devices and coordinate patch deployment through vendor channels.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1917 — 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-2021-1917 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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- 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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