CVE-2025-21446 in Snapdragon Auto
Summary
by MITRE • 07/08/2025
Transient DOS may occur when processing vendor-specific information elements while parsing a WLAN frame for BTM requests.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/07/2025
This vulnerability represents a transient denial of service condition within wireless local area network processing systems that handle Bluetooth traffic management requests. The issue manifests during the parsing of WLAN frames specifically designed to contain vendor-specific information elements that are part of BTM request handling protocols. The transient nature of this vulnerability indicates that the system temporarily becomes unresponsive rather than experiencing permanent failure, creating intermittent service disruption scenarios that can significantly impact wireless network availability and performance.
The technical flaw resides in the insufficient validation and processing logic applied to vendor-specific information elements contained within WLAN frames. When a wireless access point or client device encounters a BTM request frame containing these vendor-specific elements, the parsing routine fails to properly handle malformed or unexpected data structures, leading to system resource exhaustion or execution flow interruption. This processing failure occurs specifically during the frame analysis phase where the system attempts to extract and interpret vendor-specific parameters that may contain unexpected byte sequences or malformed structures that the current parsing implementation cannot gracefully handle. The vulnerability demonstrates poor defensive programming practices and inadequate input sanitization mechanisms that are fundamental to secure network processing protocols.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service interruption to encompass broader wireless network reliability concerns and potential cascading effects within connected systems. Network administrators may experience intermittent connectivity issues for wireless clients, particularly those utilizing BTM functionality for handover operations between access points. The transient nature of the denial of service means that traditional monitoring systems might not immediately detect the issue, as the system appears to function normally between failure events, making troubleshooting more complex. This vulnerability affects wireless infrastructure components that process BTM requests, including access points, wireless controllers, and client devices that support Bluetooth traffic management protocols, potentially creating widespread service degradation across multiple network segments.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing robust input validation and boundary checking mechanisms within WLAN frame parsing routines, particularly for vendor-specific information elements. Network administrators should consider firmware updates from vendors that address this specific parsing vulnerability, as well as implementing network segmentation and monitoring to detect anomalous frame processing patterns. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129 Input Validation and CWE-248 Uncaught Exception categories, representing both insufficient validation of input data and failure to handle exceptional conditions gracefully. From an ATT&CK perspective, this vulnerability could be leveraged in network denial of service attacks, potentially classified under T1499 Network Denial of Service, where attackers could exploit the transient nature to create intermittent disruptions that are difficult to trace and mitigate effectively. Organizations should also implement proper logging and alerting mechanisms to detect when parsing routines encounter unexpected vendor-specific data structures that could trigger the denial of service condition.