Executive brief
A security vulnerability exists in various Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, which are used in mobile phones, laptops, and IoT devices. An attacker with local access to a device could potentially cause memory corruption, leading to system instability or unauthorized data access. This issue occurs when the system incorrectly handles multiple requests for the same data buffer, potentially allowing a malicious application to interfere with secure system operations.
Technical details
This vulnerability is a use-after-free (CWE-416) issue within the Qualcomm Snapdragon firmware. It is triggered when multiple Input/Output Control (IOCTL) calls are processed using the same buffer file descriptor input, resulting in the system accessing memory that has already been released. An attacker with low privileges and local access could exploit this to cause memory corruption. While the attack complexity is high and requires user interaction, a successful exploit could lead to a scope change, impacting the integrity and availability of the system. Qualcomm has addressed this in their July 2026 security bulletin.
Affected products
- Qualcomm Snapdragon CCW
- Qualcomm Snapdragon Compute
- Qualcomm Snapdragon Consumer IOT
- Qualcomm Snapdragon MC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile
- Qualcomm FastConnect 6700
- Qualcomm FastConnect 6900
- Qualcomm FastConnect 7800
- Qualcomm QCM5430
- Qualcomm QCM6490
- Qualcomm SC8380XP
- Qualcomm SD865 5G
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Timeline
- 2026-07-06: advisory
- 2026-07-06: disclosed