CVE-2024-46920 in 850
Summary
by MITRE • 01/13/2025
An issue was discovered in Samsung Mobile Processor Exynos 9820, 9825, 980, 990, 850, 1080, 2100, and 1280. Lack of a length check leads to a stack out-of-bounds write at loadInputBuffers.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/14/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-46920 affects multiple Samsung Exynos mobile processors including the 9820, 9825, 980, 990, 850, 1080, 2100, and 1280 chipsets. This represents a critical security flaw that resides within the hardware processing capabilities of these devices, potentially compromising the integrity of mobile communications and data processing functions. The issue manifests as a stack out-of-bounds write condition during the loadInputBuffers operation, indicating a fundamental flaw in memory management and buffer handling mechanisms within the processor's firmware or system software. This vulnerability falls under the category of memory corruption flaws that can be exploited to execute arbitrary code or cause system instability.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from the absence of proper input validation and length checking mechanisms within the buffer management code. When the system attempts to load input buffers during processing operations, it fails to verify that the incoming data conforms to expected size parameters before writing to allocated memory regions. This allows malicious actors to craft specially formatted input data that exceeds the allocated buffer boundaries, resulting in a stack overflow condition that can overwrite adjacent memory locations. The flaw specifically occurs during the loadInputBuffers function execution, which suggests that this is a critical component in the processor's data handling pipeline that processes incoming data streams from various system components or network interfaces.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple system crashes or instability, as it creates potential entry points for sophisticated attack vectors. An attacker who can influence the data flow to the affected processor could potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges, effectively gaining control over the device's core processing functions. This capability could enable unauthorized access to sensitive data, remote code execution, or complete system compromise. The vulnerability affects a wide range of Samsung mobile devices that utilize these processors, creating a significant attack surface across multiple device generations and models. The nature of the flaw suggests that it could be exploited through various attack vectors including malicious applications, compromised network communications, or even physical attack scenarios that can manipulate input data streams to the processor.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on both immediate firmware updates and broader system hardening measures. Samsung should prioritize the release of firmware patches that implement proper input length validation and buffer boundary checking mechanisms within the loadInputBuffers function. These updates must be deployed across all affected Exynos processor models to ensure comprehensive protection. Additionally, system administrators and device manufacturers should consider implementing runtime protections such as stack canaries, address space layout randomization, and heap-based memory protection mechanisms to reduce the exploitability of such vulnerabilities. The implementation of these protections aligns with industry best practices and security frameworks such as those recommended by the CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) catalog which classifies this issue as a buffer overflow weakness. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability would be categorized under techniques related to privilege escalation and code execution, potentially enabling adversaries to establish persistent access to affected devices and exfiltrate sensitive information from mobile platforms that rely on these processors for core system operations.