CVE-2021-35122
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 · uneditedNon-secure region can try modifying RG permissions of IO space xPUs due to improper input validation in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Wearables
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 confidenceImproper input validation in Snapdragon chips allows a non-secure region to modify Region (RG) permissions of IO space cross-processing units (xPUs). This could enable a local attacker to escalate privileges or gain unauthorized access to protected memory regions by manipulating RG permissions from an untrusted context.
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.
-
Identify affected Qualcomm chips in your environmentInventory your hardware or firmware to determine if any of these are present: Qualcomm Aqt1000, Ar8035, Qca6390, Qca6391, Qca6420, Qca6421, Qca6426, or Qca6430. Check device specifications, firmware SBOMs, or hardware documentation.Affected if Any of these eight chip models/firmware variants are present in your environment.
-
Determine firmware version of the Qualcomm chipAccess the device management interface, bootloader, or firmware image to retrieve the installed firmware version. This may require vendor-specific tools or checking /proc, /sys, or device debug interfaces depending on your platform.Affected if The installed firmware version matches one of the affected products listed (all versions are affected).
-
Verify if xPU configuration is accessible from non-secure contextReview the chip's security configuration documentation or memory map to determine whether IO space cross-processing units (xPUs) can be accessed or modified from a non-secure or untrusted execution context. This typically requires access to Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) or security configuration registers.Affected if Non-secure regions have write access or can modify Region (RG) permissions for IO space xPUs.
-
Check for unauthorized privilege escalation indicatorsReview system logs, audit trails, or security monitoring for signs of privilege escalation, unexpected memory region access, or modifications to IO space permissions that originated from untrusted application contexts.Affected if Logs show xPU permission modifications or memory region access from non-secure domains that were not initiated by trusted system components.
If your environment contains any of the eight listed Qualcomm chip/firmware products (Aqt1000, Ar8035, Qca6390, Qca6391, Qca6420, Qca6421, Qca6426, Qca6430) and those chips expose xPU configuration from non-secure contexts, you are affected by this vulnerability.
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 updates provided by device OEMs or chip manufacturers. Since this is a hardware/firmware-level vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, end users should check with their device manufacturers for available patches.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing16.0 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 $8,704.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-35122 — 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-2021-35122 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
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.
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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data