CVE-2021-30279
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 access control violation while setting current permission for VMIDs due to improper permission masking in Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, 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 confidenceAn access control vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon processors allows improper permission masking when setting current permissions for VMIDs (Virtual Machine IDs). This could enable a local attacker to bypass access controls and potentially escalate privileges due to insufficient permission filtering in the hypervisor/firmware layer.
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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 chip model in your systemCheck system information or hardware specs to determine which Qualcomm processor or network chip is installed (e.g., Qca6390, Qca9984, Ar8035, Qcm2290, etc.)Affected if The system uses any of the listed affected chips: Ar8035, Qca6390, Qca6391, Qca6426, Qca6436, Qca8337, Qca9984, or Qcm2290
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Determine the firmware version of the Qualcomm componentUse vendor-specific tools or commands to query the firmware version of the identified Qualcomm chip (e.g., ethtool, manufacturer diagnostics, or firmware dumping utilities)Affected if The firmware version matches any of the affected products listed (all versions of these specific firmware variants are affected)
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Check if virtualization or hypervisor features are enabledVerify whether the system has hypervisor or VMID-related features active, since this vulnerability affects permission masking for VMIDs in the firmware/hardware layerAffected if Hypervisor or virtualization features are enabled on a system with an affected Qualcomm component
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Verify the firmware is running in the affected contextConfirm that the Qualcomm firmware component is actively running and handling VMID permissions (check process list, kernel modules, or firmware-loaded status)Affected if The vulnerable firmware component is loaded and operational
A system is affected if it contains any of the listed Qualcomm firmware components (Ar8035, Qca6390, Qca6391, Qca6426, Qca6436, Qca8337, Qca9984, Qcm2290) with virtualization or hypervisor features enabled, since all versions of these products are vulnerable.
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/hypervisor patches provided by Qualcomm and downstream device manufacturers. This is a hardware-level vulnerability requiring vendor-supplied updates rather than application-level fixes.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,896.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-30279 — 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-2021-30279 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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