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Ar8035 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2021-30346

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-06-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
RPM secure Stream can access any secure resource due to improper SMMU configuration in Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, 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 confidence

The vulnerability stems from an improper SMMU (System Memory Management Unit) configuration in Snapdragon chipsets. The RPM (Radio Processor/Media Processor) secure Stream, which should be restricted to accessing only authorized secure resources, can instead access any secure resource due to inadequate memory isolation enforced by the SMMU.

MitigationApply vendor-provided firmware updates from Qualcomm and/or device OEMs that contain the corrected SMMU configuration. This is a hardware/firmware-level issue requiring patches through the secure boot chain rather than application-level remediation.

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
Ar8035 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qca9984 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcm2290 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcm4290 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcs2290 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcs405 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qcs4290 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Sd460 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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 the chipset or firmware model
    Examine the device hardware labeling, bootloader output, or system information to determine the exact Qualcomm chipset or firmware identifier (e.g., Ar8035, Qca9984, Qcm2290, Qcm4290, Qcs2290, Qcs405, Qcs4290, Sd460)
    Affected if The device uses any of the listed Qualcomm firmware models (Ar8035, Qca9984, Qcm2290, Qcm4290, Qcs2290, Qcs405, Qcs4290, or Sd460)
  2. Check the firmware version
    Retrieve the installed firmware version through the device management interface, CLI (e.g., 'show version', 'cat /proc/version'), or firmware extraction from the device
    Affected if The firmware version cannot be updated or is confirmed to be from the affected product list (all versions of these models are affected)
  3. Verify SMMU configuration
    Inspect the SMMU (System Memory Management Unit) configuration registers or device tree blob (DTB) for memory isolation settings. On Linux, check /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/ or use 'dtc' to decompile the device tree and look for SMMU IOMMU configuration entries
    Affected if The SMMU configuration permits the RPM secure stream to access arbitrary secure resources without proper isolation boundaries
  4. Check for secure boot status
    Examine secure boot logs or configuration (e.g., 'fastboot oem secure_debug_level', UEFI debug logs, or ARM TrustZone logs) to determine if the secure boot chain is properly enforcing signed firmware
    Affected if Secure boot is disabled, in debug mode, or allows unsigned RPM firmware to load
  5. Review RPM stream permissions
    Analyze the RPM (Radio Processor/Media Processor) firmware image or memory map to verify that the secure stream is restricted to its authorized memory regions only
    Affected if The RPM secure stream has read/write access to memory regions outside its documented trusted execution environment boundaries

A device is affected if it runs any version of the listed Qualcomm firmware models (Ar8035, Qca9984, Qcm2290, Qcm4290, Qcs2290, Qcs405, Qcs4290, or Sd460) without vendor-provided SMMU configuration fixes applied.

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-provided firmware updates from Qualcomm and/or device OEMs that contain the corrected SMMU configuration. This is a hardware/firmware-level issue requiring patches through the secure boot chain rather than application-level remediation.

Fix this in Ar8035 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,920
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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-2021-30346 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