Security Resilience

CVE-2023-33079

Memory Safety in Qualcomm Ar8035 Firmware

Published
05 December 2023
Modified
11 August 2025
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 0.0016 4th 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-2023-33079 is a high-severity Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset (CWE-823) vulnerability in Qualcomm Ar8035 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked at the 4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Memory corruption in Audio while running invalid audio recording from ADSP.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-33106Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2024-21475Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2023-43534Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2024-43060Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2024-45573Same product: Qualcomm Qcm5430
CVE-2024-49840Same product: Qualcomm Wcd9380
CVE-2024-33036Same product: Qualcomm Qam8295P
CVE-2023-22387Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2023-33035Same product: Qualcomm Apq5053-Aa
CVE-2023-33055Same product: Qualcomm Apq5053-Aa

Affected Assets

qualcomm
ar8035 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
qualcomm
qca6390 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcn685x-5 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcn685x-1 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcn785x-1 firmware
all versions
+134 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 1 hardening rule · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

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-119

Ongoing control assessments and code testing (static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing) surface memory buffer restriction failures, which are then remediated before release.

addresses: CWE-119

Managed runtimes used by platform-independent applications (e.g., JVM, CLR) enforce memory safety, preventing most buffer overflows that require direct memory manipulation.

addresses: CWE-119

Memory protections (e.g., W^X, ASLR) make exploitation of buffer-boundary violations far harder to turn into code execution.

addresses: CWE-119

Detects exploitation attempts that produce memory corruption, crashes, or anomalous behavior.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

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

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

SAST/DAST tools used for vulnerability identification can surface this class of coding defect.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require bounds-checked pointer arithmetic and static analysis to prevent out-of-range offsets.

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.

removes
blocks

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that can prevent out-of-range pointer offsets.

blocks

A.8.26 only requires that security requirements (including resilience against buffer overflows or SQL injections) be identified and specified during development or acquisition; it does not itself enforce, implement, or prevent out-of-range pointer arithmetic in the resulting application.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and require bounds checks.

finds

Security testing can detect out-of-range pointer offsets before release.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220726 Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must be configured to at least OptOut. blocks CWE-823

References