CVE-2025-27050: Qualcomm Aqt1000 Use-After-Free Vulnerability

CVE-2025-27050 Overview

CVE-2025-27050 is a use-after-free memory corruption vulnerability [CWE-416] in multiple Qualcomm firmware components. The flaw occurs while processing event close operations when a client process terminates abruptly. A local, low-privileged attacker who can trigger abnormal client termination may corrupt kernel or firmware memory, leading to elevated privileges or system compromise. Qualcomm disclosed the issue in its July 2025 security bulletin, which covers dozens of affected chipsets including FastConnect, WCD audio codecs, WSA speaker amplifiers, and Snapdragon compute platforms used across mobile, automotive, and IoT devices.

Critical Impact
Local privilege escalation and full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability on affected Qualcomm-based devices when an attacker triggers abnormal client termination during event close handling.

Affected Products

Qualcomm FastConnect 6200, 6700, 6800, 6900, and 7800 firmware
Qualcomm QCA6391, QCA6420, QCA6430, QCM5430, QCM6490, QCS5430, QCS6490 firmware
Qualcomm WCD9340/9341/9370/9375/9380/9385 audio codec firmware and WSA8810–WSA8845H speaker amplifier firmware, plus AQT1000, SM6250, SC7180, SC8180X, SC8280XP, SC8380XP, Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 Compute, and Video Collaboration VC3 Platform firmware

Discovery Timeline

2025-07-08 - CVE-2025-27050 published to NVD alongside the Qualcomm July 2025 Security Bulletin
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-27050

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a use-after-free condition [CWE-416] triggered in the event close code path of Qualcomm driver or firmware components. When a client process terminates abruptly, cleanup routines can release a memory object that another execution context still references. Subsequent access to the freed object produces memory corruption. Because the affected components run with kernel or firmware privileges, corruption can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution in a privileged context. Exploitation requires local access and low privileges, but no user interaction, making it viable against any process that can obtain a handle to the vulnerable driver.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper synchronization between the client lifecycle and event handling logic. When a client terminates outside the normal shutdown sequence, event close processing fails to invalidate or reference-count structures that describe the client's outstanding events. The dangling pointer is later dereferenced, freed a second time, or written to, corrupting adjacent memory.

Attack Vector

A local attacker with the ability to open the vulnerable interface (for example, a compromised app on Android or a low-privileged user on a Snapdragon compute platform) opens the event channel, allocates event resources, then abnormally terminates the client process to race the cleanup path. Successful exploitation yields elevated privileges, information disclosure, or denial of service. See the Qualcomm July 2025 Security Bulletin for component-level technical detail.

// No verified public proof-of-concept is available for CVE-2025-27050.
// Refer to the Qualcomm July 2025 security bulletin for component-specific details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-27050

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected kernel oops, panics, or firmware watchdog resets referencing Qualcomm WLAN, audio, or camera driver stacks after abrupt process termination.
Repeated abnormal termination (SIGKILL, segfault) of userspace clients that interact with Qualcomm event interfaces immediately preceding kernel instability.
Anomalous privilege transitions or new root-level processes spawned shortly after crashes in Qualcomm subsystem drivers.

Detection Strategies

Monitor dmesg, logcat, and vendor RAM dumps for use-after-free signatures such as KASAN reports referencing Qualcomm modules.
Correlate application crash telemetry with kernel driver faults to identify races between client teardown and event close handlers.
Track installed firmware and patch levels against the fixed versions listed in the Qualcomm July 2025 bulletin.

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest Android or Linux kernel logs into a centralized analytics pipeline and alert on driver-specific panic strings.
Baseline normal client lifecycle events for Qualcomm services and alert on abnormal termination bursts from unprivileged UIDs.
Review OEM security patch level (SPL) reporting fleet-wide to confirm devices carry the July 2025 or later patch level.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-27050

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the July 2025 security patch level from the device OEM as soon as it is released for each affected platform.
Inventory all endpoints, mobile devices, and embedded systems using the affected Qualcomm chipsets and prioritize patching for those exposed to untrusted applications.
Restrict installation of untrusted third-party applications on affected Android and Snapdragon compute devices until patches are deployed.

Patch Information

Qualcomm addressed CVE-2025-27050 in the July 2025 Security Bulletin. Fixes are delivered to OEMs, who must integrate them into device firmware and ship updates through their normal channels (for example, Android monthly SPL updates or vendor firmware releases for automotive and IoT platforms).

Workarounds

No official workaround is documented; apply vendor patches once available.
Limit device attack surface by disabling sideloading, enforcing application allowlists, and applying mobile device management (MDM) policies that restrict access to low-level hardware interfaces.
On managed Linux or compute platforms, restrict which users and processes can open Qualcomm driver device nodes via filesystem permissions and SELinux policy.

bash

# Verify Android security patch level on a managed device
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch
# Ensure the returned date is 2025-07-01 or later before returning device to production use