Cyber 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 5th percentile
Risk Priority 54 floored blend · peak EPSS

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 Process Injection (T1055); ranked at the 5th 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

T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
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-2023-33035Same product: Qualcomm Apq5053-Aa
CVE-2023-43534Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2024-43060Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2023-33055Same product: Qualcomm Apq5053-Aa
CVE-2024-45573Same product: Qualcomm Qcm5430
CVE-2023-28586Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2024-23369Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2025-21483Same product: Qualcomm Qam8255P

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)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2
  • 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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

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

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

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

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.

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.

finds

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

prevents

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

prevents

Application security requirements include memory-safety rules that reduce pointer-offset errors.

degrades

Secure architecture principles promote safe pointer handling and memory layout controls.

prevents

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

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` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

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

References