CVE-2017-18315 in Snapdragon Mobile
Summary
by MITRE
Buffer over-read vulnerabilities in an older version of ASN.1 parser in Snapdragon Mobile in versions SD 600.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/03/2020
The vulnerability CVE-2017-18315 represents a critical buffer over-read flaw within the ASN.1 parser component of Qualcomm's Snapdragon Mobile platforms, specifically affecting the SD 600 series. This issue resides in the mobile chipset's handling of ASN.1 encoded data structures, which are fundamental to telecommunications and security protocols including SSL/TLS, X.509 certificates, and various network communication standards. The vulnerability manifests when the parser processes malformed ASN.1 data structures that exceed expected buffer boundaries, creating opportunities for memory corruption and potential exploitation.
The technical implementation of this flaw involves the ASN.1 parser's inadequate bounds checking mechanisms when processing encoded data streams. During normal operation, the parser expects data to conform to specific format constraints and buffer sizes. However, when encountering malformed input that exceeds predetermined buffer limits, the parser continues reading beyond allocated memory boundaries, potentially accessing uninitialized or adjacent memory regions. This over-read behavior creates a predictable pattern of memory access violations that can be leveraged by attackers to extract sensitive information from memory or manipulate program execution flow. The vulnerability operates at the kernel level within the mobile platform's security subsystem, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited without user interaction and potentially escalate privileges.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-18315 extends beyond simple data corruption, as it enables adversaries to potentially extract cryptographic keys, session tokens, or other sensitive information stored in memory. This vulnerability affects devices running older versions of Qualcomm's Snapdragon SD 600 series chipsets, which were widely deployed in smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices from 2015-2017. The attack surface includes any application or service that utilizes ASN.1 parsing for network communication, certificate validation, or secure data transmission. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and control communication, and T1552.001 for credential access through memory scraping. The vulnerability also corresponds to CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-787, which covers out-of-bounds write vulnerabilities that can result from similar parsing errors.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-18315 primarily focus on firmware and software updates from device manufacturers, as the vulnerability exists within Qualcomm's proprietary chipset components. Users should ensure their devices receive security patches from manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and others who utilize Snapdragon SD 600 chipsets. System administrators should implement network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts through malformed ASN.1 data in network traffic. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of secure coding practices and comprehensive input validation, particularly for cryptographic and security-critical components. Organizations should consider device retirement policies for affected hardware and implement network segmentation to limit potential lateral movement if exploitation occurs. Additionally, implementing runtime protection mechanisms such as stack canaries, address space layout randomization, and memory protection features can provide additional defense-in-depth measures against similar buffer over-read vulnerabilities that may exist in other components of the mobile platform architecture.