CVE-2018-12012 in Snapdragon Auto
Summary
by MITRE
While updating blacklisting region shared buffered memory region is not validated against newly updated black list, causing boot-up to be compromised in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables in MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9650, MDM9655, QCS605, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 410/12, SD 615/16/SD 415, SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670, SD 835, SD 845 / SD 850, SD 8CX, SXR1130
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/15/2020
This vulnerability exists in Qualcomm Snapdragon automotive and mobile platform processors where the system fails to validate shared buffered memory regions during blacklisting updates. The flaw occurs in the boot process when the system updates blacklisted regions but does not properly verify that the new blacklist entries do not conflict with existing memory mappings. This represents a critical security weakness that can compromise system integrity from the earliest stages of boot-up. The vulnerability affects multiple generations of Qualcomm processors including MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9650, MDM9655, QCS605, and various SD series processors, indicating a widespread impact across automotive, consumer electronics, and IoT device categories. The issue is categorized under CWE-215 which deals with the exposure of sensitive information through the use of debug interfaces and memory regions that should remain protected.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation during memory management operations. When the system attempts to update blacklisted memory regions, it does not perform proper validation checks to ensure that newly added blacklist entries do not overlap with existing shared memory buffers. This oversight allows malicious actors to potentially manipulate the boot process by exploiting memory regions that should be protected. The vulnerability creates a path for privilege escalation and can enable attackers to bypass memory protection mechanisms that are designed to prevent unauthorized access to critical system resources. This weakness aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068 which involves local privilege escalation through exploitation of system vulnerabilities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it compromises the boot integrity of affected devices from the very beginning of their operation. During the boot process, when the system initializes memory management and sets up blacklisted regions, an attacker could potentially inject malicious code or manipulate legitimate memory operations. This vulnerability affects automotive systems in Snapdragon Auto platforms, consumer electronics connectivity devices, and IoT deployments, making it particularly dangerous for safety-critical applications. The compromised boot process can lead to persistent backdoors, unauthorized system modifications, and complete loss of device security guarantees. Devices using affected processors like SD 835, SD 845, SD 850, and SD 8CX are all at risk, representing a significant portion of mobile and automotive computing platforms in the market.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate firmware updates from device manufacturers and system vendors to address the memory validation issue during blacklisting operations. The recommended approach involves implementing proper validation checks that ensure newly added blacklist entries do not conflict with existing shared memory regions before allowing updates to proceed. System designers should also implement memory isolation mechanisms that prevent cross-contamination between different memory management domains. Organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their embedded systems to identify potential exploitation paths and ensure proper memory management practices are in place. The fix should include verification routines that check for overlapping memory regions and prevent invalid updates to the blacklist. This vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper memory management validation in secure boot processes and demonstrates how seemingly simple validation failures can create significant security risks across multiple device categories and industries.