CVE-2021-1966 Explained : Impact and Mitigation
Learn about CVE-2021-1966, a buffer overflow vulnerability affecting various Qualcomm Snapdragon products. Understand the impact, technical details, and mitigation steps.
This CVE involves a possible buffer overflow vulnerability in various Qualcomm Snapdragon products due to a lack of length check of the source and destination buffer before copying.
Understanding CVE-2021-1966
This section provides insights into the nature and impact of CVE-2021-1966.
What is CVE-2021-1966?
The CVE-2021-1966 vulnerability is a buffer overflow issue that affects multiple Qualcomm Snapdragon products, potentially leading to security breaches.
The Impact of CVE-2021-1966
The vulnerability poses a moderate risk with a base score of 6.7 according to the CVSS v3.1 metrics. It can result in high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems.
Technical Details of CVE-2021-1966
This section delves into the technical aspects of the vulnerability, including its description, affected systems, and exploitation mechanism.
Vulnerability Description
The vulnerability arises from a lack of proper length check of source and destination buffers during data copying, potentially allowing malicious actors to trigger a buffer overflow.
Affected Systems and Versions
Qualcomm Snapdragon products including Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Consumer IOT, Industrial IOT, Mobile, Voice & Music are impacted across various versions as listed in the vendor's security bulletin.
Exploitation Mechanism
The vulnerability can be exploited by leveraging the lack of input size validation in display functions, allowing attackers to craft malicious inputs to trigger buffer overflows.
Mitigation and Prevention
This section outlines the immediate steps and long-term practices to mitigate the CVE-2021-1966 vulnerability.
Immediate Steps to Take
Affected users are advised to apply security patches provided by Qualcomm promptly to address the vulnerability and prevent potential exploits.
Long-Term Security Practices
Implementing secure coding practices, regular security audits, and staying informed about vendor security updates can help prevent similar vulnerabilities in the future.
Patching and Updates
Regularly update the firmware and software of Qualcomm Snapdragon products to ensure that the latest security patches are applied to mitigate known vulnerabilities.