Security Resilience

CVE-2023-21670

LPE in Qualcomm Sdm845 Firmware

Published
06 June 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0012 1th percentile
Risk Priority 54 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-21670 is a high-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Qualcomm Sdm845 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Memory Corruption in GPU Subsystem due to arbitrary command execution from GPU in privileged mode.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-21673Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-33071Same product: Qualcomm Qca6574
CVE-2024-33027Same product: Qualcomm 315 5G Iot Modem
CVE-2024-23351Same product: Qualcomm Qam8255P
CVE-2023-24844Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2025-21425Same product: Qualcomm Qam8255P
CVE-2023-21642Same product: Qualcomm Qam8295P
CVE-2024-23360Same product: Qualcomm Wcd9380
CVE-2023-43517Same product: Qualcomm Qam8255P
CVE-2025-24857Same vendor: Qualcomm

Affected Assets

qualcomm
315 5g iot modem firmware
all versions
qualcomm
aqt1000 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
ar8031 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
ar8035 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
c-v2x9150 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
csra6620 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
csra6640 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcn3991 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcn3998 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcn6750 firmware
all versions
+172 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

The access control policy and procedures directly mandate and enforce proper access control mechanisms across the organization.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Supervision and review of access control activities directly detects and remediates improper access configurations or usages.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Associating and retaining security attributes with data directly supports enforcement of access control decisions across storage, processing, and transmission.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Requiring prior authorization for each remote access type prevents improper access control over remote connections.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Requiring authorization of wireless access before allowing connections enforces proper access control for this access method.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Requiring authorization and configuration controls for mobile device connections directly enforces access control and prevents unauthorized devices from reaching organizational systems.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Defining account types, requiring approvals for creation, specifying authorizations, monitoring usage, and reviewing accounts directly prevents improper access control by ensuring only authorized accounts exist and are used.

addresses: CWE-284 CWE-863

Enforces rules governing access to the system and its data from external systems based on established trust relationships.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

blocks

A.5.1 only requires that an information security policy and topic-specific policies (including on access control) exist and are reviewed; it does not itself enforce, implement or act on any access restriction, so the weakness can still be exploited (per the owner's explicit rule that governance/dependency clauses score none on effect verbs).

blocks

A.5.15 directly mandates determining requirements, defining/implementing topic-specific access control policy+rules (with explicit references to 8.3, 5.16, 5.18), and enforcing authorized access while preventing unauthorized access, which squarely stops exploitation of most CWE-284 instances; the bounded remainder is the physical slice (explicitly delegated to 7.2-7.4) plus any second-order defects like path traversal that are not authorization decisions.

blocks

A.5.16's identity lifecycle (unique binding, timely disable/remove, no duplicates, oversight of shared/non-human) directly stops most improper access by ensuring the actor in an access decision is correctly identified and authorized; the bounded remainder is non-identity mechanisms in CWE-284 such as path traversal or CSRF that do not turn on actor identity at all.

blocks

A.5.18 directly governs the provisioning, review, adjustment and timely revocation of both physical and logical access rights per business rules, segregation of duties and risk-evaluated changes/terminations; this stops most unauthorized-actor exploitation paths named by CWE-284, with a bounded remainder (e.g. path-traversal or CSRF cases that are not authorization decisions at all)

blocks

A.5.2 defines and assigns roles/responsibilities for protection of information and risk acceptance; it does not itself enforce any access decision and cannot stop exploitation of improper access control (per the owner's labeling rule: governance/dependency clauses do not score on prevent/mitigate verbs)

finds

Ongoing audits and performance reviews of suppliers detect and correct situations where access controls or privilege assignments are weaker than contractually required, limiting an attacker's ability to exploit improper access control in the supplier's environment.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-284, a pillar-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-749, CWE-1220.
  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-863, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References