CVE-2023-33036
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 · uneditedPermanent DOS in Hypervisor while untrusted VM without PSCI support makes a PSCI 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 confidenceA permanent denial of service vulnerability exists in the hypervisor where an untrusted VM without PSCI (Power State Coordination Interface) support triggers a permanent hang or unrecoverable state when making a PSCI call. The hypervisor fails to properly validate the VM's PSCI capabilities or handle the call gracefully when the calling VM lacks the necessary PSCI support, causing the virtualization layer to become permanently unresponsive.
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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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.
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Identify the Qualcomm firmware versionCheck the firmware version of the Qualcomm component (Aqt1000, Ar8035, Fastconnect 6200/6800/6900/7800, Qam8255p, or Qam8295p) by reading the system firmware information or using the vendor's diagnostic toolsAffected if The installed firmware is any version of the listed affected products
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Verify hypervisor is enabledCheck if the virtualization hypervisor feature is active on the system by examining hypervisor status registers or using hypervisor-specific diagnostic commandsAffected if The hypervisor is running and VMs can be spawned
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Check for VMs lacking PSCI supportInventory all VMs configured on the hypervisor and verify their PSCI (Power State Coordination Interface) capability configuration, specifically checking which VMs have PSCI support disabled or unavailableAffected if There exists a VM without PSCI support actively running or configured on the hypervisor
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Monitor for PSCI call triggersAudit or log PSCI calls made by VMs, looking for calls originating from VMs that lack PSCI capability flagsAffected if A PSCI call is attempted by a VM that does not have PSCI support enabled
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Check for hypervisor hang symptomsObserve the hypervisor for signs of permanent unresponsiveness, hang states, or inability to schedule VMs after a PSCI call has been madeAffected if The hypervisor becomes permanently unresponsive following a PSCI call from an unsupported VM
A system is affected if it runs any version of the listed Qualcomm firmware with an active hypervisor that has executed a PSCI call from a VM lacking PSCI support, resulting in hypervisor hang.
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 proper validation of VM PSCI capability flags before processing power management calls, and add robust error handling to prevent the hypervisor from hanging when an unsupported VM makes a PSCI request.
- 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-2023-33036 — 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-2023-33036 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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