CVE-2023-21643
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 · uneditedMemory corruption due to untrusted pointer dereference in automotive during system call.
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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in automotive systems stemming from untrusted pointer dereference during system call operations, allowing potential arbitrary code execution or system crash.
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.
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Identify the Qualcomm firmware modelQuery the system firmware or boot information. On embedded automotive systems, this may be found in /proc/cpuinfo, /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model, boot logs, or via commands like 'dmidecode' if available on the platform. Look for identifiers such as Apq8064au, Apq8096au, Msm8996au, Qam8295p, Qca6564a, Qca6564au, Qca6574a, or Qca6574au.Affected if The identified model matches any of: Apq8064au, Apq8096au, Msm8996au, Qam8295p, Qca6564a, Qca6564au, Qca6574a, or Qca6574au.
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Verify the firmware version rangeCheck the installed firmware version or build information. On Qualcomm automotive platforms, this may be exposed via /proc/version, boot messages, or a dedicated firmware query interface provided by the automotive infotainment or telematics system.Affected if Any firmware version is present on one of the affected models, since all versions are vulnerable.
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Confirm system call operations are in useReview system behavior or audit logs to determine if the system performs system call operations that could involve pointers from user-space or untrusted sources. This is typically inherent to normal system operation on affected firmware.Affected if The system executes any system call operations, which is the default behavior for these automotive firmware platforms.
If the system runs any of the listed Qualcomm firmware models (Apq8064au, Apq8096au, Msm8996au, Qam8295p, Qca6564a, Qca6564au, Qca6574a, or Qca6574au) regardless of version, the environment is 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 dataImplement rigorous pointer validation and bounds checking before dereferencing, especially for pointers derived from user-space or untrusted sources in automotive system call paths; apply vendor patches when available.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21643 — 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-2023-21643 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
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- 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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