Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-53033

Memory Safety in Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900 Firmware

Published
03 March 2025
Modified
07 March 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 0.0011 2th percentile
Risk Priority 54 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-53033 is a high-severity Untrusted Pointer Dereference (CWE-822) vulnerability in Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 2th 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.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2024-53033 is a memory corruption vulnerability that occurs during an Escape call when a user provides a valid kernel address in place of a valid user buffer address. It affects Qualcomm products, as detailed in the vendor's security bulletin. The issue is associated with CWE-822 (Untrusted Pointer Dereference) and CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer), earning a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). The vulnerability was published on March 3, 2025.

A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability by supplying a valid kernel address during an Escape call, triggering memory corruption. Successful exploitation could result in high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution or system compromise within the affected scope.

For mitigation details, including patches and affected product versions, refer to the Qualcomm March 2025 Security Bulletin at https://docs.qualcomm.com/product/publicresources/securitybulletin/march-2025-bulletin.html.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Memory corruption while doing Escape call when user provides valid kernel address in the place of valid user buffer address.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-53034Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2025-47405Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2024-49840Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2025-47408Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2024-45550Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2025-21447Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2024-45547Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2023-43532Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2024-45584Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900
CVE-2024-45548Same product: Qualcomm Fastconnect 6900

Affected Assets

qualcomm
fastconnect 6900 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
fastconnect 7800 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
sc8380xp firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcd9380 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wcd9385 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wsa8840 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wsa8845 firmware
all versions
qualcomm
wsa8845h firmware
all versions

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)
  • V17.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover instances where untrusted data is turned into a pointer and dereferenced.

Validating all information inputs stops untrusted values from being accepted and converted into dereferenceable pointers.

Secure engineering principles require memory-safe design and coding that structurally avoids buffer-boundary violations.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the damage from an invalid pointer dereference without stopping the root coding flaw.

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 prevent introduction of untrusted pointer handling during development.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect adverse events resulting from exploitation of the weakness.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover instances of this weakness via code review or scanning.

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 pointer-dereference flaws before release.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle includes pointer-safety practices that reduce untrusted pointer dereference risk.

prevents

Application security requirements can mandate validation of pointers obtained from untrusted sources.

prevents

Secure architecture principles discourage direct use of untrusted values as pointers.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid dereferencing pointers derived from untrusted input.

References