Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-43522

Memory Safety in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8C Compute Platform Firmware

Published
06 February 2024
Modified
11 August 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0032 25th percentile
Risk Priority 57 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-43522 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8C Compute Platform Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 25th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Transient DOS while key unwrapping process, when the given encrypted key is empty or NULL.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
T1489 Service Stop Impact
Adversaries may stop or disable services on a system to render those services unavailable to legitimate users.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-33088Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-33109Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-33089Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2024-23357Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-24847Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-33056Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2025-59604Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2023-33036Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2024-53024Same product: Qualcomm Ar8035
CVE-2025-59606Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6200

Affected Assets

qualcomm
aqt1000 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
ar8035 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
ar9380 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
csr8811 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
csra6620 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
csra6640 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
csrb31024 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6200 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6700 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6800 firmware
all versions
+276 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.

Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.

Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.

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 (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

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 NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References