CVE-2020-11237
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-11237 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets where lack of validation of histogram definition data before accessing it can cause system crashes. This affects automotive, compute, connectivity, and mobile devices using vulnerable Snapdragon components. Attackers could potentially exploit this to cause denial of service or execute arbitrary code.
💻 Affected Systems
- Snapdragon Auto
- Snapdragon Compute
- Snapdragon Connectivity
- Snapdragon Mobile
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution leading to complete device compromise, data theft, or persistent backdoor installation
Likely Case
Denial of service through system crashes or reboots, potentially disrupting device functionality
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation and memory protections in place
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending specially crafted input to vulnerable histogram processing components
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Refer to Qualcomm April 2021 security bulletin for specific chipset firmware updates
Vendor Advisory: https://www.qualcomm.com/company/product-security/bulletins/april-2021-bulletin
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Check device manufacturer for security updates 2. Apply Qualcomm-provided firmware patches 3. Update device operating system 4. Reboot device after patching
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input validation enhancement
allImplement additional input validation for histogram data processing
Not applicable - requires code changes
Memory protection
linuxEnable ASLR and other memory protection mechanisms
echo 2 > /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate affected devices from untrusted networks
- Implement strict application whitelisting to prevent malicious apps
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check device chipset version and firmware against Qualcomm security bulletinCheck Version:
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i qualcommVerify Fix Applied:
Verify firmware version has been updated to patched version from manufacturer📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Kernel panic logs
- Unexpected process crashes
- Memory access violation errors
Network Indicators:
- Unusual histogram data requests to vulnerable services
SIEM Query:
source="kernel" AND ("panic" OR "segfault" OR "access violation") AND process="*histogram*"