Ar8035 FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2022-33270

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-04-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Transient DOS due to time-of-check time-of-use race condition in Modem while processing RRC Reconfiguration message.

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

A time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the Modem component allows an attacker to cause a transient denial of service by sending a specially crafted RRC (Radio Resource Control) Reconfiguration message. The vulnerability exploits a timing window between when the modem checks a condition and when it uses that condition result during message processing.

MitigationApply vendor-provided firmware/security patches for the affected modem component. Until a patch is available, consider network-level filtering or monitoring for anomalous RRC Reconfiguration messages.

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
Wcn3998 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Wcn6750 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Wcn685x 5 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Wcn685x 1 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Wcn785x 1 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Wcn785x 5 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Qca6391 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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 modem chipset model
    Check your device documentation, system information, or modem firmware settings to determine if the chipset is one of: Ar8035, Wcn3998, Wcn6750, Wcn685x (5 or 1), Wcn785x (1 or 5), or Qca6391
    Affected if The device uses any of these Qualcomm modem chipsets
  2. Locate the modem firmware version
    Access the modem or baseband firmware information through device settings, diagnostic tools, or AT command interface (for mobile devices) to retrieve the installed firmware version
    Affected if The firmware version cannot be determined or matches the affected chipset list
  3. Determine if RRC Reconfiguration message processing is active
    Monitor or inspect modem message processing to confirm the device handles RRC (Radio Resource Control) messages, which is standard for cellular communication
    Affected if The modem processes RRC messages (typical for any cellular-connected device)
  4. Check vendor security advisories
    Review the device or Qualcomm vendor security advisories to confirm if a patch for CVE-2022-33270 has been released for your specific firmware version
    Affected if No patch has been released or applied for this CVE

You are affected if your device uses any of the listed Qualcomm modem chipsets (Ar8035, Wcn3998, Wcn6750, Wcn685x 5/1, Wcn785x 5/1, Qca6391) and processes RRC messages without having applied a vendor firmware patch for this vulnerability.

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/security patches for the affected modem component. Until a patch is available, consider network-level filtering or monitoring for anomalous RRC Reconfiguration messages.

Fix this in Ar8035 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,880
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-33270 — 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-2022-33270 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
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