315 5g Iot Modem FirmwareOperating system · Qualcomm

CVE-2023-43513

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Memory corruption while processing the event ring, the context read pointer is untrusted to HLOS and when it is passed with arbitrary values, may point to address in the middle of ring element.

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 memory corruption vulnerability exists in event ring processing where an attacker-controlled context read pointer can be passed with arbitrary values, allowing it to point to any address within a ring element rather than the expected element boundary. This enables out-of-bounds memory access leading to potential code execution or denial of service.

MitigationImplement rigorous validation of the context read pointer to ensure it always points to the start of a valid ring element boundary before processing, rejecting any values that would result in misaligned or out-of-bounds access.

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
315 5g Iot Modem FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Apq8017 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Aqt1000 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ar8031 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ar8035 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
C V2x 9150 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csra6620 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Csra6640 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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if the system uses an affected Qualcomm firmware component
    Inventory the hardware or firmware present on the system. Look for one of the following Qualcomm chips: 315 5G IoT Modem, Apq8017, Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, C V2X 9150, Csra6620, or Csra6640. This may be listed in device specs, kernel modules, bootloader info, or system firmware dumps.
    Affected if Any of the listed Qualcomm firmware components are present on the system
  2. Confirm the presence of event ring processing functionality
    Examine the firmware or driver code associated with the Qualcomm chip. Look for event ring or ring buffer data structures used in data path processing, particularly in functions handling context reads or descriptor processing.
    Affected if The firmware implements event ring processing where context read pointers are used to access ring elements
  3. Check for context read pointer validation in firmware
    Analyze the firmware binary or source code for the event ring handler. Specifically inspect the code paths where the context read pointer is calculated or used to access memory within a ring element. Look for bounds checking or alignment validation before memory access.
    Affected if The firmware lacks rigorous validation of the context read pointer to ensure it points to the start of a valid ring element boundary before processing, or if such validation is missing entirely

If the system contains any of the listed Qualcomm firmware components (315 5G IoT Modem, Apq8017, Aqt1000, Ar8031, Ar8035, C V2X 9150, Csra6620, or Csra6640) and those components use event ring processing, the environment is affected by this vulnerability since all versions are impacted.

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

Implement rigorous validation of the context read pointer to ensure it always points to the start of a valid ring element boundary before processing, rejecting any values that would result in misaligned or out-of-bounds access.

Fix this in 315 5g Iot Modem Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,480
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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-2023-43513 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data