CVE-2020-11231 in Snapdragon Compute
Summary
by MITRE • 04/07/2021
Two threads call one or both functions concurrently leading to corruption of pointers and reference counters which in turn can lead to heap corruption in Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/11/2021
This vulnerability resides in the Snapdragon automotive and IoT product lines, specifically affecting the compute, connectivity, consumer IoT, and industrial IoT segments. The issue stems from improper handling of concurrent thread access to shared memory resources within the system's memory management subsystem. When two or more execution threads simultaneously invoke functions that manipulate pointer references and reference counters, the race condition creates a scenario where memory corruption occurs at the heap level.
The technical flaw manifests through a classic race condition vulnerability where multiple threads access shared data structures without proper synchronization mechanisms. This concurrency issue directly impacts the reference counting mechanism used by the system's memory management units, leading to improper pointer dereferencing and corrupted reference counters. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the kernel level or low-level system components where memory management is critical for system stability. According to CWE-362, this represents a classic concurrent execution race condition that allows for arbitrary code execution or system crashes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across multiple Snapdragon product categories, making it particularly concerning for automotive systems, industrial IoT deployments, and mobile connectivity solutions. Heap corruption resulting from this flaw can lead to system instability, application crashes, or potentially allow malicious actors to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The vulnerability affects systems that rely heavily on concurrent processing capabilities, where multiple threads may simultaneously access memory management functions. This makes it especially dangerous in automotive environments where real-time processing and memory safety are paramount for vehicle operation.
Mitigation strategies must focus on implementing proper thread synchronization mechanisms including mutex locks, atomic operations, or other concurrency control primitives to prevent simultaneous access to shared memory resources. System architects should implement memory barrier instructions and ensure proper reference counting implementations that are thread-safe. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a system security weakness that could be exploited through privilege escalation techniques, particularly in environments where multiple threads interact with memory management subsystems. Organizations should conduct thorough code reviews to identify all functions that manipulate shared data structures and ensure proper locking mechanisms are in place. Regular security updates and patches should be deployed immediately to address this vulnerability across all affected Snapdragon product lines, particularly those used in safety-critical applications.