Apq8009 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2021-30351

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
An out of bound memory access can occur due to improper validation of number of frames being passed during music playback in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, 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 · high confidence

An out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability exists in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets due to improper validation of frame counts during music playback. The vulnerability allows memory corruption by providing a malicious number of frames to the audio subsystem, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution with kernel-level privileges.

MitigationApply vendor firmware updates from Qualcomm or device manufacturers that address this vulnerability. The fix requires correcting the input validation logic in the audio playback code to properly validate frame counts before performing memory operations.

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
Apq8009 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8009w FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8017 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
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

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify the Qualcomm chipset model in your device or system
    Check system information or device specifications to determine if the chipset is one of the following: Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Ar9380, or Csr8811. This may require checking /proc/cpuinfo on Linux, device manager on Windows, or firmware/datasheet documentation.
    Affected if The chipset matches any of the affected models listed above.
  2. Determine the firmware version of the Qualcomm audio subsystem
    Query the audio driver or firmware version through available diagnostic interfaces. On Android, this may be accessible via 'getprop' or audio-specific debug logs. On embedded systems, check /sys/class/audio or vendor-specific diagnostic tools.
    Affected if The firmware version cannot be determined or is present on an affected chipset model.
  3. Verify if audio playback functionality is exposed
    Check if the device or system exposes audio playback capabilities that process media files. Look for audio daemon processes (such as audioflinger, audioserver, or vendor audio services) and confirm they are running.
    Affected if Audio playback functionality is available and the underlying chipset is one of the affected models.
  4. Check for vendor firmware update availability
    Consult the device manufacturer or Qualcomm's product security advisories to determine if a firmware patch addressing CVE-2021-30351 has been released for your specific device and chipset version.
    Affected if No vendor security patch for CVE-2021-30351 has been applied to the affected chipset firmware.

A user is affected if their device or system uses any of the listed Qualcomm chipset models (Apq8009, Apq8009w, Apq8017, Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, Ar9380, Csr8811) and the audio subsystem with unpatched firmware is active.

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 firmware updates from Qualcomm or device manufacturers that address this vulnerability. The fix requires correcting the input validation logic in the audio playback code to properly validate frame counts before performing memory operations.

Fix this in Apq8009 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation40.0 h
  • Testing24.0 h
  • Review / QA16.0 h
88.0 hours of engineering $15,280
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $24,448.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-30351 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-30351 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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