CVE-2025-47385: Qualcomm Sa8295p Privilege Escalation

CVE-2025-47385 Overview

CVE-2025-47385 is a memory corruption vulnerability affecting multiple Qualcomm chipsets and firmware components. The vulnerability occurs when accessing the trusted execution environment (TEE) without proper privilege checks, allowing a local attacker with low privileges to potentially achieve arbitrary code execution, information disclosure, or cause a denial of service condition on affected devices.

This vulnerability impacts a wide range of Qualcomm products spanning mobile platforms, automotive chipsets, wearable devices, connectivity modules, and audio components. Given the prevalence of Qualcomm chipsets in smartphones, vehicles, IoT devices, and wearables, this vulnerability represents a significant security concern across multiple device categories.

Critical Impact

Local attackers with low privileges can exploit improper register interface protections to achieve memory corruption, potentially leading to code execution, data theft, or system compromise on affected Qualcomm-powered devices.

Affected Products

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 4/6/7 Series Mobile Platforms (multiple generations)
• Qualcomm SA Series Automotive Platforms (SA6155P, SA7255P, SA7775P, SA8155P, SA8195P, SA8255P, SA8295P, SA8620P, SA8770P, SA9000P)
• Qualcomm FastConnect Series (6200, 6700, 6900, 7800)
• Qualcomm WCN Series Connectivity Modules (WCN3950, WCN3988, WCN6450, WCN6755, WCN7860, WCN7861, WCN7880, WCN7881)
• Qualcomm WCD/WSA Audio Components
• Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 Platform
• Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 Wearable Platform

Discovery Timeline

• March 2, 2026 - CVE-2025-47385 published to NVD
• March 5, 2026 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-47385

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability exists due to improper protection of hardware register interfaces for the trusted execution environment (TEE) within affected Qualcomm firmware. The flaw falls under CWE-1262 (Improper Access Control for Register Interface), which describes scenarios where hardware registers that control security-sensitive functionality can be accessed or modified by processes that should not have permission to do so.

The TEE is a secure area within the main processor that ensures sensitive data is stored, processed, and protected in an isolated environment. When the register interface lacks proper privilege validation, an attacker who has already gained local access to the device can manipulate TEE-related registers without the required authorization level. This can lead to memory corruption within the trusted execution context.

Successful exploitation requires local access to the device, but the attacker does not need high privileges. The impact spans confidentiality, integrity, and availability—attackers could potentially read sensitive data processed by the TEE, modify protected memory regions, or crash the secure execution environment.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-47385 is improper access control for register interfaces (CWE-1262). Specifically, the firmware fails to adequately verify that the calling process has sufficient privileges before allowing access to registers that control or interact with the trusted execution environment. This missing or insufficient privilege check allows lower-privileged processes to access security-critical register interfaces that should only be accessible to highly privileged components.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is local, meaning an attacker must have some form of local access to the target device. This could be achieved through:

1. Malicious Application: An attacker could deploy a malicious application that, once installed on the device, attempts to access the vulnerable register interface
2. Prior Compromise: An attacker who has already compromised the device through another vulnerability could leverage this flaw to escalate privileges or access protected TEE data
3. Physical Access: In scenarios involving physical access, an attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability through debugging interfaces

The exploitation does not require user interaction and can be performed with low-privilege access. Once the vulnerable register interface is accessed, the attacker can trigger memory corruption conditions that may allow further exploitation such as code execution within the TEE context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-47385

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual access patterns to TEE-related system calls or interfaces from non-privileged processes
• Unexpected crashes or instability in secure world components or TrustZone applications
• Anomalous memory access patterns or segmentation faults in kernel logs related to secure memory regions
• Applications requesting unusual permissions or accessing hardware abstraction layer (HAL) interfaces for TEE operations

Detection Strategies

• Monitor system logs for abnormal TEE-related errors or crashes that could indicate exploitation attempts
• Implement application behavior analysis to detect processes attempting to access restricted hardware interfaces
• Deploy endpoint detection solutions capable of identifying privilege escalation attempts targeting secure execution environments
• Review installed applications for suspicious behavior patterns or known malicious signatures

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for secure world operations where supported by the device firmware
• Implement runtime application self-protection (RASP) solutions to monitor application behavior at the system level
• Utilize SentinelOne's behavioral AI engine to detect anomalous process activity that may indicate exploitation attempts
• Establish baseline device behavior to identify deviations that could signal compromise

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-47385

Immediate Actions Required

• Check device firmware versions against Qualcomm's security bulletin to determine vulnerability status
• Apply firmware updates from device manufacturers as they become available
• Limit installation of applications to trusted sources to reduce the risk of malicious app exploitation
• Review and restrict permissions for applications that may access low-level system interfaces
• Consider disabling unnecessary development or debugging features that could facilitate local access

Patch Information

Qualcomm has addressed this vulnerability in their March 2026 security bulletin. Device manufacturers (OEMs) are responsible for integrating these patches into their firmware updates and distributing them to end users. Users should check with their device manufacturer for patch availability and apply updates promptly.

For detailed patch information, refer to the Qualcomm Security Bulletin March 2026.

Workarounds

• Restrict physical access to affected devices to prevent local exploitation scenarios
• Minimize the installation of third-party applications that are not from verified, trusted sources
• Enable additional security features such as secure boot and verified boot where available
• Implement mobile device management (MDM) solutions to enforce security policies and monitor device integrity
• Segment network access for devices running vulnerable firmware until patches can be applied

# Example: Check Android device security patch level
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch

# Example: Verify device firmware version (manufacturer-specific)
adb shell getprop ro.build.display.id