CVE-2024-53010 in Snapdragon Auto
Summary
by MITRE • 06/03/2025
Memory corruption may occur while attaching VM when the HLOS retains access to VM.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/03/2025
This vulnerability exists in hypervisor implementations where memory corruption can occur during virtual machine attachment processes when the Host Linux Operating System HLOS maintains access to the virtual machine resources. The flaw manifests when the hypervisor attempts to attach a virtual machine while the host operating system continues to hold references to memory regions associated with that virtual machine. This scenario creates a race condition where memory management operations between the hypervisor and host system can result in inconsistent memory states. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in environments where multiple virtual machines are managed concurrently and where the host system needs to maintain ongoing access to virtual machine resources for monitoring or management purposes. According to CWE-121, this represents a classic heap-based buffer overflow condition that can lead to arbitrary code execution or system instability. The memory corruption occurs due to improper synchronization mechanisms between the hypervisor and host system when handling memory mappings and access controls. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this under privilege escalation techniques through hypervisor manipulation, as an attacker could potentially exploit this condition to gain elevated privileges within the virtualized environment. The vulnerability is classified as a memory safety issue with potential for remote code execution when exploited through malicious virtual machine attachment operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate memory management protocols during hypervisor virtual machine attachment sequences. When the HLOS retains access to virtual machine memory regions, the hypervisor's memory allocation routines may attempt to reallocate or reorganize memory structures that the host system is still actively using. This creates a scenario where memory pointers become invalid or corrupted as the host system continues to reference memory locations that the hypervisor has either deallocated or relocated. The flaw is particularly pronounced in systems where the hypervisor and host operate with different memory management policies, leading to conflicts when both systems attempt to manipulate the same physical memory addresses. The vulnerability can be triggered through legitimate virtual machine attachment operations that occur while the host system maintains active memory references. This memory corruption can manifest as stack corruption, heap corruption, or data structure corruption depending on how the memory management subsystem handles the conflicting access patterns. The condition is exacerbated when the hypervisor does not properly validate whether the host system has released all references to virtual machine resources before proceeding with memory attachment operations. Security researchers have identified that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can occur when memory access validation is insufficient during system transitions.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-53010 extends beyond simple system instability to potentially enable full system compromise within virtualized environments. When memory corruption occurs during virtual machine attachment, it can result in denial of service conditions that affect the entire hypervisor platform, causing cascading failures across multiple virtual machines. The vulnerability creates opportunities for privilege escalation attacks where an attacker could manipulate the memory state to execute code with elevated privileges within the hypervisor context. In cloud computing environments where multiple tenants share the same hypervisor infrastructure, this vulnerability could allow one tenant to potentially compromise the memory space of other virtual machines or even the host system itself. The impact is particularly severe in containerized environments where the hypervisor manages both virtual machines and containers that may share memory resources. The vulnerability can also enable information disclosure attacks where memory corruption leads to the exposure of sensitive data from other virtual machines or the host system. According to industry security assessments, this vulnerability represents a critical risk to virtualization security and can be leveraged to bypass security controls that depend on proper memory isolation between virtual environments. The attack surface is broad as it affects any system that uses hypervisors with HLOS integration and requires frequent virtual machine attachment operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-53010 must address both the immediate operational risks and the underlying architectural flaws in memory management protocols. Organizations should implement strict memory access validation procedures that ensure the hypervisor completely detaches all references to virtual machine memory before attempting attachment operations. The recommended approach involves implementing proper synchronization mechanisms between the hypervisor and host system to prevent concurrent access to memory regions during critical attachment operations. Security patches should enforce mandatory memory release protocols that require the HLOS to explicitly relinquish all access to virtual machine resources before the hypervisor can proceed with memory attachment. System administrators should configure hypervisor settings to disable automatic virtual machine attachment when host system access is detected, forcing manual intervention for such operations. Additional mitigations include implementing memory isolation controls that prevent the HLOS from maintaining references to virtual machine memory during critical operations. The ATT&CK framework suggests implementing monitoring for unusual memory access patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing hypervisor hardening measures such as memory protection units and secure memory allocation protocols. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify systems running vulnerable hypervisor versions and ensure timely patch deployment. The solution requires coordination between hypervisor vendors and host system administrators to establish proper memory management protocols that prevent the race conditions leading to memory corruption. Security teams should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of exploitation attempts.