CVE-2025-47368 Overview
CVE-2025-47368 is a memory corruption vulnerability affecting multiple Qualcomm firmware components. The flaw occurs when the Multi-Client Device Manager (MCDM) driver dereferences an invalid userspace address contained in a user buffer during IOCTL processing. A local authenticated attacker with low privileges can trigger this condition to compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability on affected devices. The weakness maps to [CWE-126] (Buffer Over-read) and impacts chipsets used across mobile, compute, and connectivity product lines including FastConnect 6900, FastConnect 7800, and SC8380XP. Qualcomm addressed the issue in the November 2025 Security Bulletin.
Critical Impact
Local privilege escalation and kernel memory corruption through malformed IOCTL requests against the MCDM driver in Qualcomm firmware.
Affected Products
- Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 and FastConnect 7800 firmware
- Qualcomm SC8380XP compute platform firmware
- Qualcomm WCD9380, WCD9385, WSA8840, WSA8845, and WSA8845H audio codec firmware
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-11-04 - CVE-2025-47368 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-47368
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability resides in the MCDM (Multi-Client Device Manager) IOCTL handler within Qualcomm firmware. When user-mode applications submit IOCTL requests containing pointer fields, the driver processes those pointers without validating that they reference addresses within the caller's userspace mapping. Dereferencing an untrusted address inside kernel context corrupts memory and produces predictable state changes that an attacker can weaponize.
Because the attack originates from a local process, exploitation requires code execution on the target device. Successful exploitation impacts all three security properties: confidentiality (through disclosure of kernel memory), integrity (through arbitrary writes tied to attacker-controlled pointers), and availability (through kernel panics on invalid dereferences).
Root Cause
The driver fails to validate userspace pointers passed through the IOCTL interface before dereferencing them. Proper handling requires functions such as access_ok() and copy_from_user() to confirm that supplied addresses belong to the caller and reside within legal userspace ranges. The missing check allows attacker-supplied pointers to reach dereference operations executed at kernel privilege.
Attack Vector
A local attacker running an unprivileged process opens the MCDM device node and issues a crafted IOCTL that embeds an invalid userspace pointer inside the input buffer. When the kernel driver reads through the supplied pointer, memory corruption occurs in the kernel address space. Chained with primitive shaping and heap grooming, this class of flaw typically yields local privilege escalation to the kernel security boundary.
No verified exploit code or proof-of-concept has been published. See the Qualcomm Security Bulletin November 2025 for vendor technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-47368
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected kernel oops, panic, or SIGSEGV events referencing the MCDM driver stack frames in device logs.
- Unprivileged processes opening MCDM device nodes and issuing IOCTLs outside of expected system audio or connectivity workflows.
- Repeated IOCTL failures followed by device reboots or reset events attributable to the audio, Wi-Fi, or codec subsystems.
Detection Strategies
- Baseline expected callers of the MCDM device node and alert on IOCTL activity originating from non-system UIDs or unsigned applications.
- Correlate kernel crash telemetry with process ancestry to identify local processes that immediately precede MCDM-related faults.
- Deploy vendor firmware version inventory checks to identify endpoints still running pre-November-2025 Qualcomm firmware.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Ingest device kernel logs and mobile telemetry into a centralized data lake for retention and long-tail analysis of driver faults.
- Track firmware and patch level compliance for FastConnect, SC8380XP, and WSA/WCD codec components across the fleet.
- Alert on new or unsigned binaries invoking privileged IOCTLs against Qualcomm subsystem drivers.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-47368
Immediate Actions Required
- Apply the Qualcomm November 2025 firmware update through the affected OEM or device vendor as soon as it becomes available for the device model.
- Inventory all endpoints containing FastConnect 6900, FastConnect 7800, SC8380XP, and the listed WCD/WSA audio codec components.
- Restrict installation of untrusted local applications on affected devices until patches are deployed.
Patch Information
Qualcomm released fixes as part of the November 2025 Security Bulletin. OEMs must integrate the updated firmware images into device-specific updates. Consult device vendor advisories for the exact build number that contains the CVE-2025-47368 fix for each affected chipset.
Workarounds
- Enforce application allow-listing to prevent unauthorized local code from reaching the MCDM IOCTL interface.
- Reduce attack surface by disabling optional services or user modes that expose the affected drivers to unprivileged callers.
- Where supported, apply SELinux or platform sandboxing policies that block non-system domains from opening Qualcomm subsystem device nodes.
# Example: audit which processes have opened Qualcomm MCDM device nodes on Linux-based platforms
sudo lsof | grep -i mcdm
# Example: verify installed firmware/build fingerprint against the November 2025 patch level
getprop ro.build.version.security_patch
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
