CVE-2019-10520 : What You Need to Know

A vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Voice & Music devices could allow an unprivileged application to exhaust GPU memory, leading to an out-of-memory situation.

Understanding CVE-2019-10520

This CVE identifies a specific issue in Qualcomm's Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Voice & Music products.

What is CVE-2019-10520?

An unprivileged application can allocate GPU memory using a specific function, potentially causing a depletion of available memory and triggering an out-of-memory scenario in the affected Qualcomm products.

The Impact of CVE-2019-10520

The vulnerability could be exploited by malicious actors to exhaust GPU memory, leading to denial of service or system instability on the affected devices.

Technical Details of CVE-2019-10520

This section delves into the technical aspects of the vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description

The flaw allows unprivileged applications to allocate GPU memory, potentially depleting all available memory and causing an out-of-memory situation in Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Voice & Music devices.

Affected Systems and Versions

Products: Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music
Vendor: Qualcomm, Inc.
Versions: QCS405, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 665, SD 675, SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670, SD 730, SD 845 / SD 850, SD 855

Exploitation Mechanism

By utilizing the memory allocation ioctl function, unprivileged applications can exhaust GPU memory, leading to memory depletion and system instability.

Mitigation and Prevention

Steps to address and prevent the CVE-2019-10520 vulnerability.

Immediate Steps to Take

Apply security patches provided by Qualcomm promptly.
Monitor system resources for unusual memory consumption.
Restrict untrusted applications from accessing critical system functions.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update device firmware to ensure the latest security fixes are in place.
Implement application sandboxing to limit the impact of potential vulnerabilities.
Conduct security audits to identify and address any potential weaknesses.

Patching and Updates

Stay informed about security advisories from Qualcomm and apply patches as soon as they are released.