CVE-2025-27029: Qualcomm Fastconnect 7800 DOS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-27029 Overview

CVE-2025-27029 is a transient denial of service vulnerability affecting a wide range of Qualcomm chipsets and firmware. The vulnerability occurs during the processing of tone measurement response buffers when the response buffer is out of range, resulting in a buffer over-read condition (CWE-126). This flaw can be exploited remotely without authentication to cause temporary service disruption on affected devices.

Critical Impact

Successful exploitation enables remote attackers to cause transient denial of service conditions on vulnerable Qualcomm-powered devices, affecting mobile platforms, networking equipment, and IoT devices without requiring any user interaction or authentication.

Affected Products

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform and firmware
• Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 firmware and related wireless connectivity chips
• Qualcomm IPQ series networking processors (IPQ5300, IPQ5302, IPQ5312, IPQ5332, IPQ5424, IPQ9008, IPQ9048, IPQ9554, IPQ9570, IPQ9574)
• Qualcomm QCA series Ethernet controllers (QCA8075, QCA8080, QCA8081, QCA8082, QCA8084, QCA8085, QCA8101, QCA8102, QCA8111, QCA8112, QCA8384, QCA8385, QCA8386)
• Qualcomm QCN series wireless networking chips (QCN5124, QCN5224, QCN6402, QCN6412, QCN6422, QCN6432, QCN9000, QCN9012, QCN9024, QCN9074, QCN9160, QCN9274)
• Qualcomm WCN series Wi-Fi chips (WCN6450, WCN6650, WCN6755, WCN7750, WCN7860, WCN7861, WCN7880, WCN7881)
• Qualcomm SM series mobile processors (SM6650, SM6650P, SM7635, SM8735, SM8750, SM8750P)
• Qualcomm Immersive Home 3210 and 326 Platform firmware
• Qualcomm audio codecs (WCD9378, WCD9390, WCD9395) and smart amplifiers (WSA8830, WSA8832, WSA8835, WSA8840, WSA8845, WSA8845H)

Discovery Timeline

• June 3, 2025 - CVE-2025-27029 published to NVD
• August 20, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-27029

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as a buffer over-read (CWE-126), which occurs when software reads data past the end of an intended buffer. In the context of CVE-2025-27029, the flaw manifests during tone measurement response processing when the firmware fails to properly validate buffer boundaries before reading response data.

The vulnerability affects the firmware's signal processing components that handle tone measurement operations. When a response buffer with an out-of-range value is processed, the system attempts to read beyond the allocated memory region. This results in a transient denial of service condition where the affected component becomes temporarily unresponsive.

The broad impact across multiple product families—including mobile platforms, networking processors, Wi-Fi chips, and audio components—suggests the vulnerable code resides in a shared firmware library or driver component used across Qualcomm's product ecosystem.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-27029 is insufficient bounds checking during tone measurement response buffer processing. The firmware code responsible for handling these responses fails to validate that the buffer index or offset values fall within the expected range before attempting memory read operations. This missing validation allows an attacker to trigger reads from memory locations outside the allocated buffer boundaries.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely over a network connection without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft malicious tone measurement response data with out-of-range buffer parameters and send it to a vulnerable device. When the device's firmware processes this malformed response, it triggers the buffer over-read condition, causing a transient denial of service.

The attack is particularly concerning for networking equipment like access points and routers using affected IPQ and QCN series chips, as well as mobile devices utilizing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform and FastConnect wireless modules. In enterprise environments, this could disrupt wireless connectivity services and network infrastructure operations.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-27029

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected device reboots or wireless connectivity drops on systems using affected Qualcomm chipsets
• Anomalous network traffic patterns targeting tone measurement or signal processing interfaces
• Kernel or firmware crash logs referencing memory access violations in wireless or audio driver components
• Repeated service interruptions on wireless access points or networking equipment without apparent cause

Detection Strategies

• Implement network intrusion detection rules to identify malformed packets targeting Qualcomm device interfaces
• Monitor system logs on affected devices for firmware crashes, memory access errors, or unexpected restarts in wireless subsystems
• Deploy endpoint monitoring to detect anomalous behavior patterns consistent with denial of service exploitation attempts
• Utilize SentinelOne Singularity to monitor endpoint health and detect exploitation attempts targeting firmware-level vulnerabilities

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging on network infrastructure devices using affected Qualcomm processors to capture potential exploitation attempts
• Establish baseline metrics for device stability and alert on deviations such as increased restart frequency or connectivity interruptions
• Monitor firmware integrity and compare against known-good configurations to detect any unauthorized modifications
• Implement network segmentation to limit exposure of vulnerable devices to untrusted network segments

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-27029

Immediate Actions Required

• Review device inventory to identify all systems using affected Qualcomm chipsets and firmware versions
• Apply firmware updates from device manufacturers as they become available incorporating Qualcomm's security patches
• Implement network access controls to restrict untrusted traffic to potentially vulnerable device interfaces
• Consider temporary isolation of critical networking equipment until patches can be applied

Patch Information

Qualcomm has addressed this vulnerability in their June 2025 Security Bulletin. Organizations should obtain updated firmware from their device manufacturers (OEMs) who incorporate Qualcomm chipsets. The specific patch versions will vary by device and manufacturer. Refer to the Qualcomm June 2025 Security Bulletin for detailed patch information and contact your device OEM for firmware update availability.

Workarounds

• Restrict network access to affected devices from untrusted sources using firewall rules or network segmentation
• Implement rate limiting on network interfaces to reduce the impact of potential exploitation attempts
• Deploy intrusion prevention systems (IPS) with signatures for known DoS attack patterns targeting wireless and networking equipment
• Monitor device health continuously and implement automated restart procedures to minimize service disruption in case of exploitation

# Example: Network segmentation using iptables to restrict access to vulnerable IoT devices
# Replace VULNERABLE_DEVICE_IP with actual device IP addresses

# Restrict external access to vulnerable Qualcomm-based access points
iptables -A INPUT -d VULNERABLE_DEVICE_IP -s !TRUSTED_MANAGEMENT_NETWORK -j DROP

# Log potential exploitation attempts
iptables -A INPUT -d VULNERABLE_DEVICE_IP -j LOG --log-prefix "QUALCOMM-CVE-2025-27029: "