dbcve.org
Aqt1000 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2021-1953

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-07-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Improper handling of received malformed FTMR request frame can lead to reachable assertion while responding with FTM1 frame in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, 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 confidence

Improper handling of malformed FTMR (Fine Timing Measurement Request) frames in Snapdragon Wi-Fi firmware can trigger a reachable assertion when the device responds with an FTM1 frame. This is a denial-of-service vulnerability in the 802.11mc (Wi-Fi RTT) implementation that causes device crashes via assertion failure when processing specifically crafted malformed requests.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware patches from Qualcomm/OEMs for affected Snapdragon devices. Since this is a firmware-level issue in the Wi-Fi stack, network-level mitigations are limited; consider disabling Wi-Fi RTT (802.11mc) functionality if not required in deployed environments.

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
Aqt1000 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ar8031 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ar8035 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ar9380 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csr8811 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csra6620 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csra6640 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csrb31024 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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify Wi-Fi hardware model
    Check the device's Wi-Fi chipset/model through system information, device manager, or physical hardware inspection. Look for Qualcomm Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Ar9380, Csr8811, Csra6620, Csra6640, or Csrb31024.
    Affected if The device uses any of the listed Qualcomm firmware products.
  2. Check if 802.11mc (Wi-Fi RTT) is enabled
    On the affected device, inspect Wi-Fi settings or network configuration for Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) or Wi-Fi RTT functionality. On Linux, use 'iw list' and look for 'fine-timing-measurement' under supported interface combinations. On Android, check under Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi RTT, or use 'adb shell cmd wifi status'.
    Affected if Wi-Fi RTT (802.11mc) is enabled on the device.
  3. Verify firmware version
    Query the Wi-Fi firmware version through vendor-specific tools, boot logs, or firmware dump utilities. For Qualcomm chips, this may require accessing the firmware image directly or using OEM-provided diagnostic tools.
    Affected if The firmware version matches any of the affected product names listed, regardless of version number (all versions are affected).
  4. Review crash logs for assertion failures
    Examine system or kernel logs (dmesg, logcat, or vendor-specific logs) for crash reports containing keywords such as 'FTM', 'FTMR', 'FTM1', 'assertion', or '802.11mc' related to Wi-Fi subsystem failures.
    Affected if Recent Wi-Fi crashes show assertion failures related to FTM/RTT processing.

You are affected if your device uses any of the listed Qualcomm Wi-Fi firmware products and has Wi-Fi RTT (802.11mc) functionality enabled.

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 patches from Qualcomm/OEMs for affected Snapdragon devices. Since this is a firmware-level issue in the Wi-Fi stack, network-level mitigations are limited; consider disabling Wi-Fi RTT (802.11mc) functionality if not required in deployed environments.

Fix this in Aqt1000 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,360
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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-2021-1953 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