CVE-2020-11255 : What You Need to Know
Learn about CVE-2020-11255, a denial of service vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon products, impacting memory handling. Discover the impact, affected systems, and mitigation steps.
A denial of service vulnerability in multiple Qualcomm Snapdragon products can lead to memory leaks and potential exploitation. Learn about the impact, technical details, and mitigation strategies.
Understanding CVE-2020-11255
This CVE involves a denial of service issue in various Qualcomm Snapdragon products due to memory leaks when processing RTCP packets with multiple SDES reports.
What is CVE-2020-11255?
The vulnerability causes a denial of service by freeing memory for the last SDES packet while leaking the rest of the memory in Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Connectivity, Consumer IOT, Industrial IOT, IoT, Mobile, and Wearables.
The Impact of CVE-2020-11255
The CVSS base score is 7.5, indicating a high severity issue with a low attack complexity. The vulnerability can result in a significant impact on availability.
Technical Details of CVE-2020-11255
This section provides insights into the vulnerability's description, affected systems, versions, and exploitation mechanism.
Vulnerability Description
The vulnerability stems from improper memory handling, specifically the release of memory before removing the last reference in the data modem.
Affected Systems and Versions
- Vendor: Qualcomm, Inc.
- Products: Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Connectivity, Consumer IOT, Industrial IOT, IoT, Mobile, Wearables
- Versions: APQ8009, APQ8017, APQ8037, and many more
Exploitation Mechanism
- Attack Vector: Network
- Privileges Required: None
- User Interaction: None
- Scope: Unchanged
- Availability Impact: High
Mitigation and Prevention
Protect your systems from CVE-2020-11255 by following these mitigation strategies:
Immediate Steps to Take
- Apply vendor patches promptly
- Monitor network traffic for suspicious RTCP packets
- Implement network segmentation to limit the impact of potential attacks
Long-Term Security Practices
- Regularly update and patch all software and firmware
- Conduct security assessments and audits to identify vulnerabilities
- Educate users and IT staff on best security practices
Patching and Updates
- Visit the vendor's security bulletin for April 2021 to access relevant patches and updates