CVE-2020-11278
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets allows denial of service attacks through improper validation of host WMI commands. An attacker could crash affected devices by sending specially crafted commands. This affects numerous Snapdragon product lines used in automotive, mobile, IoT, and networking devices.
💻 Affected Systems
- Snapdragon Auto
- Snapdragon Compute
- Snapdragon Connectivity
- Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity
- Snapdragon Consumer IOT
- Snapdragon Industrial IOT
- Snapdragon Mobile
- Snapdragon Voice & Music
- Snapdragon Wired Infrastructure and Networking
📦 What is this software?
Sd7c Firmware by Qualcomm
Sd8c Firmware by Qualcomm
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete device crash requiring physical restart, potentially disrupting critical operations in automotive, industrial, or infrastructure systems.
Likely Case
Temporary service disruption on affected devices, requiring reboot to restore functionality.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if devices are patched and network access is restricted to trusted sources only.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires network access to the vulnerable WMI interface and knowledge of the specific command format.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Device-specific firmware updates from OEMs
Vendor Advisory: https://www.qualcomm.com/company/product-security/bulletins/february-2021-bulletin
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Check with device manufacturer for firmware updates. 2. Apply the latest firmware update for your specific device model. 3. Reboot device after update installation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Access Restriction
allRestrict network access to WMI interfaces to trusted sources only
Use firewall rules to block untrusted access to WMI ports (typically 135, 445 for Windows, varies for embedded systems)
Service Disablement
allDisable WMI service if not required for device functionality
Device-specific commands to disable WMI service (consult device documentation)
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate vulnerable devices
- Monitor for abnormal device reboots or service disruptions
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check device firmware version against manufacturer's security bulletin. Use 'cat /proc/version' or device-specific version commands.Check Version:
Device-specific (e.g., 'getprop ro.build.fingerprint' for Android, 'uname -a' for Linux)Verify Fix Applied:
Verify firmware version has been updated to version listed in manufacturer's security advisory.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected device reboots
- WMI service crashes
- System logs showing invalid command errors
Network Indicators:
- Unusual WMI command traffic to affected devices
- Multiple connection attempts to WMI ports
SIEM Query:
source_ip='*' AND dest_port IN (135,445) AND protocol='tcp' AND size>threshold