CVE-2025-27062: Qualcomm 315 5G IoT Modem Privilege Escalation

CVE-2025-27062 Overview

CVE-2025-27062 is a memory corruption vulnerability affecting a broad range of Qualcomm chipsets and firmware. The flaw occurs while handling client exceptions and permits unauthorized channel access on impacted devices. Qualcomm disclosed the issue in its August 2025 Security Bulletin. The weakness is classified under CWE-284: Improper Access Control. Exploitation requires local access and low privileges, and no user interaction is needed. Successful exploitation can compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the target device.

Critical Impact
A local, low-privileged attacker can trigger memory corruption during client exception handling to gain unauthorized channel access, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation on affected Qualcomm-based devices.

Affected Products

Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile platforms (including Snapdragon 8 Gen 2/3, 8+ Gen 2, 888/888+ 5G, 780G/778G, 695/680, and others)
Qualcomm automotive, IoT, and compute platforms (including SA8155P, SA8295P, SA8775P, QCS6490, QCS8550, Snapdragon 820 Automotive, Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3)
Qualcomm connectivity and audio firmware (FastConnect 6200/6700/6900/7800, WCN36xx/WCN6xxx, WCD9xxx, WSA88xx, QCA65xx/QCA85xx, MDM9650, SDX55/SDX61)

Discovery Timeline

2025-08-06 - CVE-2025-27062 published to NVD
August 2025 - Qualcomm publishes fix details in the August 2025 Security Bulletin
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-27062

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-27062 is a memory corruption flaw triggered in the code path that handles client exceptions within affected Qualcomm firmware components. When an exception is raised by a client, the exception handler fails to enforce proper access control on resources associated with that client. This condition allows an unauthorized actor to access channels or memory regions that should remain isolated. The result is corruption of memory structures that govern channel ownership and privilege boundaries. On mobile, automotive, and IoT platforms, these boundaries typically separate untrusted userspace from trusted firmware services.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper access control ([CWE-284]) during exception cleanup. The firmware does not adequately validate the identity or authorization state of the requesting client before releasing or reassigning channel resources. When a client exception occurs, stale references or unvalidated pointers can be reused, corrupting memory used to track channel state.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is local. An attacker must already have code execution on the device with low privileges, such as a compromised application on a Snapdragon-powered handset or a malicious process on an automotive compute module. From there, the attacker deliberately triggers a client exception in a way that forces the vulnerable handler to mishandle channel resources, corrupting memory to obtain unauthorized channel access. No user interaction is required, and no additional authentication is needed beyond the initial local foothold.

No public proof-of-concept exploit has been published, and the flaw is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. See the Qualcomm August 2025 Security Bulletin for advisory details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-27062

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected process crashes, kernel panics, or firmware resets on Qualcomm-based devices, particularly under abnormal client exception conditions.
Anomalous IPC or channel activity from low-privileged processes attempting to access resources outside their normal scope.
Dmesg or logcat entries referencing memory faults in Qualcomm subsystems such as QMI, RPMSG, or SMEM channels.

Detection Strategies

Monitor mobile and embedded telemetry for repeated exception generation from the same process, which may indicate exploitation attempts against the vulnerable handler.
Use mobile threat defense and endpoint telemetry to flag applications that trigger abnormal system service faults immediately before privilege changes.
Correlate firmware crash reports with process execution history to identify suspicious patterns tied to CVE-2025-27062 exploitation.

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest device crash reports, kernel logs, and mobile EDR telemetry into a centralized analytics platform for anomaly detection.
Track patch level compliance across your fleet, since firmware-level fixes are delivered by OEM vendors on varying schedules.
Alert on unauthorized channel or IPC endpoint access attempts originating from third-party or sideloaded applications.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-27062

Immediate Actions Required

Inventory devices using Qualcomm chipsets listed in the affected products section and identify their current firmware and OEM patch level.
Apply the OEM security update that incorporates Qualcomm's August 2025 patch as soon as it is available for each device model.
Restrict installation of untrusted applications on impacted devices until patches are deployed, since exploitation requires local code execution.

Patch Information

Qualcomm has released fixes for CVE-2025-27062 as part of its August 2025 Security Bulletin. Patches are distributed to device manufacturers, who must integrate them into vendor-specific firmware and Android security updates. End users should install the latest security patch level provided by their device OEM. For automotive and IoT deployments, coordinate with the platform integrator to obtain the corresponding firmware update.

Workarounds

Enforce application allowlisting and platform integrity controls to reduce the likelihood of malicious local code execution.
Disable or remove untrusted third-party applications, especially those with access to low-level system services, until firmware updates are applied.
For managed device fleets, use MDM policies to block sideloading and restrict developer options on affected Qualcomm-based devices.

bash

# Example: check Android security patch level on a managed device
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch

# Example: enumerate installed non-system packages for allowlisting review
adb shell pm list packages -3