CVE-2021-1905
Published: 07 May 2021
Summary
CVE-2021-1905 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Qualcomm Sd675 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.4 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 26.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SC-39 (Process Isolation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2021-1905 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) caused by improper handling of memory mapping when multiple processes access the same region simultaneously. It affects a wide range of Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms, including Auto, Compute, Connectivity, Consumer IOT, Industrial IOT, Mobile, Voice & Music, and Wearables.
The flaw can be exploited by an unprivileged local attacker without user interaction. Successful exploitation grants the attacker full control over affected memory, enabling arbitrary code execution or other impacts that compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the device.
Qualcomm's May 2021 security bulletin addresses the issue and provides mitigation guidance through updated firmware or software releases for the impacted Snapdragon components. The vulnerability is also catalogued by CISA as actively exploited in the wild.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2021-7369
Vulnerability details
Possible use after free due to improper handling of memory mapping of multiple processes simultaneously. in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 November 2021
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly implements memory protection safeguards that block use-after-free exploitation of concurrently mapped regions.
Enforces separate execution domains for each process, preventing improper shared-memory mappings that trigger the flaw.
Protects against unintended information transfer through shared system resources such as concurrently mapped memory pages.