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Aqt1000 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2021-30317

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 validation of program headers containing ELF metadata can lead to image verification bypass 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 validation of program headers in ELF metadata allows attackers to bypass image verification in Snapdragon firmware loading. This enables loading of modified or malicious firmware images, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution in the boot chain.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware patches from Qualcomm/OEMs that properly validate ELF program headers before loading; until patch available, implement code signing verification and secure boot chain validation as compensating controls.

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
Csra6620 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csra6640 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csrb31024 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9150 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Mdm9250 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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Qualcomm firmware components
    Inventory the system for presence of any of these firmware modules: Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Csra6620, Csra6640, Csrb31024, Mdm9150, or Mdm9250. Check firmware directories, device trees, or bootloader configurations where these components would be listed.
    Affected if Any of the listed firmware components are present in the environment (all versions are affected per the advisory).
  2. Confirm firmware version
    Retrieve the exact firmware version for each identified Qualcomm component. Use commands like 'cat /proc/cmdline', 'ls -la /lib/firmware/', or vendor-specific tools to query firmware version information.
    Affected if The firmware version matches any of the listed affected products (Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Csra6620, Csra6640, Csrb31024, Mdm9150, Mdm9250) at any version level.
  3. Verify ELF firmware loading is in use
    Check if the boot process loads firmware using ELF format by examining bootloader configuration, firmware loading logs, or kernel boot parameters. Look for ELF metadata parsing in the firmware loading code path.
    Affected if The system uses ELF-based firmware loading for the affected Qualcomm components, enabling the improper validation of program headers to be triggered.
  4. Check secure boot configuration
    Examine whether secure boot is enabled and properly validating firmware images before execution. Look for secure boot status in UEFI/bootloader settings or system management interfaces.
    Affected if Secure boot is disabled or does not validate ELF program headers, allowing modified firmware images to be loaded.

If any of the eight listed Qualcomm firmware components (Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Csra6620, Csra6640, Csrb31024, Mdm9150, Mdm9250) are present at any version and the system uses ELF-based firmware loading without proper program header validation, the environment is affected by CVE-2021-30317.

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 that properly validate ELF program headers before loading; until patch available, implement code signing verification and secure boot chain validation as compensating controls.

Fix this in Aqt1000 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,720
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2021-30317 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