CVE-2021-30313 in Snapdragon Auto
Summary
by MITRE • 01/13/2022
Use after free condition can occur in wired connectivity due to a race condition while creating and deleting folders in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables, Snapdragon Wired Infrastructure and Networking
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/16/2022
This vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free condition that manifests in multiple Qualcomm Snapdragon product lines including automotive, mobile, and networking platforms. The flaw arises from a race condition during folder creation and deletion operations within wired connectivity components, creating a scenario where memory previously allocated to a folder structure may be freed while still being referenced by other processes or threads. The vulnerability affects a broad range of Snapdragon product categories including automotive systems, consumer IoT devices, industrial IoT deployments, mobile platforms, voice and music processing units, wearable devices, and wired infrastructure networking solutions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper synchronization mechanisms during concurrent folder operations within the wireless connectivity subsystem. When multiple threads or processes attempt to create and delete folder structures simultaneously, the system fails to properly manage memory allocation and deallocation sequences. This race condition allows an attacker to potentially manipulate the timing of these operations to cause a freed memory block to be accessed after it has been deallocated, leading to unpredictable behavior including arbitrary code execution or system crashes. The vulnerability operates at a low level within the operating system kernel or driver components that manage wired connectivity protocols.
The operational impact of this vulnerability spans across multiple deployment scenarios where Snapdragon-based devices handle network connectivity operations. Attackers could exploit this condition to gain elevated privileges on affected devices, potentially leading to complete system compromise or denial of service conditions. The widespread nature of affected product lines means that numerous device types could be vulnerable, including automotive infotainment systems, mobile phones, industrial sensors, wearable health monitoring devices, and networking equipment. This creates a significant attack surface that could be leveraged for supply chain attacks or targeted exploitation of specific device categories.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing proper synchronization mechanisms and memory management controls within the affected software components. System administrators and device manufacturers should prioritize applying firmware updates from Qualcomm that address the race condition through improved locking mechanisms and memory allocation procedures. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-416 which specifically addresses use-after-free errors, and may map to ATT&CK technique T1059 for execution through command injection or privilege escalation. Organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments across all Snapdragon-based systems and implement monitoring for unusual connectivity behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, defensive measures including runtime application control and memory protection mechanisms should be deployed to reduce the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts.