CVE-2022-22093 in Snapdragon Compute
Summary
by MITRE • 09/16/2022
Memory corruption or temporary denial of service due to improper handling of concurrent hypervisor operations to attach or detach IRQs from virtual interrupt sources in Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/19/2022
This vulnerability exists within Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor families including Compute, Connectivity, Industrial IOT, and Mobile variants where improper handling of concurrent hypervisor operations leads to memory corruption or temporary denial of service. The flaw specifically manifests when multiple hypervisor operations attempt to simultaneously attach or detach IRQs from virtual interrupt sources, creating a race condition scenario that can corrupt memory structures or temporarily disable system functionality. The vulnerability stems from inadequate synchronization mechanisms within the hypervisor's interrupt handling subsystem, allowing concurrent access to shared interrupt resource structures without proper locking or atomic operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the hypervisor's management of virtual interrupt sources where multiple concurrent operations attempt to modify the same interrupt descriptor table entries or virtual interrupt controller states simultaneously. When these operations occur in parallel without proper mutual exclusion, the system's memory management structures become corrupted through overlapping writes or inconsistent state updates. This can result in the hypervisor losing track of interrupt assignments, causing either complete denial of service where interrupts cannot be properly processed or memory corruption that may lead to unpredictable system behavior. The flaw is particularly dangerous in virtualized environments where multiple virtual machines or hypervisor threads may be actively managing interrupt resources concurrently.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across various deployment scenarios including mobile devices, industrial IoT systems, and connectivity solutions that rely on Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors. In mobile environments, this could lead to temporary system freezes or crashes during high interrupt load conditions, while industrial IoT deployments might experience critical service interruptions that could compromise operational continuity. The vulnerability affects systems where hypervisor-level interrupt management is actively utilized, which encompasses most modern virtualized environments and systems implementing hardware-assisted virtualization. Attackers could potentially exploit this by creating specific concurrent interrupt operations to trigger the race condition, leading to either denial of service or memory corruption that might be leveraged for further exploitation.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing proper synchronization mechanisms within the hypervisor's interrupt handling code, including the use of mutex locks, semaphores, or atomic operations to prevent concurrent access to shared interrupt resources. System administrators should ensure that firmware updates are applied promptly, as Qualcomm has released patches addressing this specific race condition. The implementation of proper interrupt controller virtualization with adequate locking mechanisms aligns with common security practices and helps prevent similar issues in other virtualization environments. Organizations should also consider monitoring for unusual interrupt activity patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, as this vulnerability can be triggered through legitimate system operations that create concurrent interrupt management scenarios. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-362, which deals with race conditions, and aligns with ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and denial of service through system resource manipulation.