CVE-2023-33042
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 after RRC Setup message is received.
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 transient denial of service vulnerability exists in the modem's RRC (Radio Resource Control) message handling logic. When a specific RRC Setup message is received, it causes the modem to become unresponsive, likely due to a crash or hang in the radio protocol stack processing.
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.
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Identify installed Qualcomm modem hardwareUse system commands such as 'lspci -v', 'lsusb', or check /dev/ttyUSB* entries to list modem devices. Look for identifiers matching the affected chips: Qualcomm 315 5G IoT, Ar8035, Wcn3991, Wcn3998, Wcn6750, Qca6390, Wcn685x 5, or Wcn685x 1.Affected if Any of these Qualcomm modem chips are present in the system
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Check modem firmware versionQuery the modem firmware version via AT commands (e.g., 'AT+GMR' or 'AT+CGMR') through a serial interface, or use manufacturer-provided tools such as 'qdmactl' or 'quectel-cm' for Qualcomm-based modems.Affected if The firmware version cannot be determined or is older than available vendor patches (all versions listed are affected)
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Verify cellular radio interface is activeCheck if the modem's radio interface is enabled using commands like 'ifconfig', 'ip link', or 'nmcli device status' to see if cellular interfaces (such as wwan0, rmnet0) are present and up.Affected if A cellular interface is present and active, meaning the RRC message handling pathway is exposed
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Confirm RRC protocol stack is operationalMonitor modem logs or status via vendor tools (e.g., 'diag_mdlog', 'qlog') or check /var/log/messages for modem-related radio events. RRC is a core LTE/5G protocol and is enabled by default on active modems.Affected if The modem shows active cellular registration or connection events, indicating RRC stack is running
If the environment contains any of the listed Qualcomm modem chips and has an active cellular connection, the system is likely affected by this RRC DoS 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 vendor firmware updates when available; until then, monitor modem availability and implement network-level protections to limit exposure to unauthenticated RRC messages.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-33042 — 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-2023-33042 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
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