Security Resilience

CVE-2023-43540

Memory Safety in Qualcomm Aqt1000 Firmware

Published
04 March 2024
Modified
10 January 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0011 1th percentile
Risk Priority 59 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-2023-43540 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Qualcomm Aqt1000 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Security Account Manager (T1003.002); ranked at the 1th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Memory corruption while processing the IOCTL FM HCI WRITE request.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
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.
T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth
Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-28582Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6700
CVE-2023-21639Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-21635Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2024-33054Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6700
CVE-2023-28562Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-21640Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2023-28580Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2023-28570Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-21649Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000
CVE-2023-43548Same product: Qualcomm Aqt1000

Affected Assets

qualcomm
aqt1000 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6200 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6700 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6800 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 6900 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 7800 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
qca6391 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
qca6420 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
qca6430 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
sc8380xp firmware
all versions
+19 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)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and analysis can find missing size checks before deployment.

Input validation directly enforces size checks before buffer copies.

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

Engineering principles require bounds checking and safe buffer handling in design.

Memory protection limits the impact of an overflow once it occurs.

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

Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing unchecked buffer copies with corrected versions.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.

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.

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References