Threats / Qualcomm / CVE-2020-11261
CVE-2020-11261
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Qualcomm Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Connectivity, Consumer IO vulnerability
Memory corruption in Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms due to improper validation of large memory allocation requests, allowing potential code execution or denial of service.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A memory corruption vulnerability affecting multiple Snapdragon product lines stems from insufficient error checking when applications request excessive memory allocation. This can be exploited to corrupt memory and potentially achieve code execution or crash the device.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-12-014EPSS 0.01772 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
2 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-12-01).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.01772 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Qualcomm, Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-20 Improper Input Validation.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 175 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious application that requests an abnormally large memory allocation to trigger the validation bypass.
Business
Device stability and integrity are compromised through memory corruption, leading to potential service disruption or unauthorized code execution.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit the memory corruption to overwrite adjacent memory regions and gain elevated privileges or execute arbitrary code.
Business
User data confidentiality and device security are at risk if attackers achieve code execution on affected Snapdragon devices across consumer, industrial, and automotive deployments.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05