CVE-2023-21653
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 · uneditedTransient DOS 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 · high confidenceA denial of service vulnerability exists in cellular modem firmware where processing a specially crafted RRC (Radio Resource Control) reconfiguration message can cause the modem to become temporarily unresponsive or crash. The issue stems from improper handling of malformed or unexpected RRC reconfiguration parameters during the parsing process.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify cellular modem hardware modelInspect device hardware specifications, bill of materials, or system information to determine the exact modem chipset in use (e.g., Ar8035, Qca8081, Qca8337, Qcn6024, Qcn9024, Sdx65, Sdx70m, Wcd9380)Affected if The device uses any of the following Qualcomm modem chips: Ar8035, Qca8081, Qca8337, Qcn6024, Qcn9024, Sdx65, Sdx70m, or Wcd9380
-
Confirm modem firmware versionAccess the modem firmware information through device diagnostics, AT command interface (e.g., ATI, AT+CGMR), or hardware documentation to retrieve the installed firmware versionAffected if The retrieved firmware version corresponds to any version of the affected Qualcomm modem models listed above
-
Check if device processes cellular radio connectionsVerify that the device has an active cellular modem subsystem that handles RRC (Radio Resource Control) protocol messages - this is typically confirmed by checking if the device connects to cellular networks (4G LTE, 5G)Affected if The device has an active cellular radio interface that processes RRC reconfiguration messages from the network
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 vendor-provided firmware updates for affected modem/baseband components. Network operators may implement filtering at the RAN (Radio Access Network) level to reject malformed RRC messages before they reach user devices.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21653 — 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-2023-21653 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