CVE-2025-47387: Qualcomm Aqt1000 Buffer Overflow Flaw

CVE-2025-47387 Overview

CVE-2025-47387 is a memory corruption vulnerability affecting multiple Qualcomm chipset firmware components. The vulnerability occurs when processing IOCTLs (Input/Output Control calls) for JPEG data without proper verification, potentially allowing a local attacker with low privileges to achieve arbitrary code execution, data confidentiality breaches, or system compromise on affected devices.

Critical Impact

This memory corruption vulnerability in Qualcomm firmware could allow local attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges, potentially compromising device confidentiality, integrity, and availability across a wide range of Snapdragon compute platforms and audio components.

Affected Products

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c/7c+ Gen 2/3 Compute Platforms
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8c/8cx Compute Platforms (multiple generations including 5G variants)
• Qualcomm FastConnect 6200/6700/6800/6900/7800 Firmware
• Qualcomm QCA6391/QCA6420/QCA6430 Firmware
• Qualcomm QCM5430/QCM6490/QCS5430/QCS6490 Firmware
• Qualcomm WCD9340/WCD9341/WCD9370/WCD9375/WCD9380/WCD9385 Audio Codecs
• Qualcomm WSA8810/WSA8815/WSA8830/WSA8835/WSA8840/WSA8845/WSA8845H Smart Amplifiers
• Qualcomm Video Collaboration VC3 Platform
• Qualcomm SC8180x+SDX55, SC8380XP, SM6250 Platforms

Discovery Timeline

• December 18, 2025 - CVE-2025-47387 published to NVD
• January 28, 2026 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-47387

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-822 (Untrusted Pointer Dereference), a dangerous memory corruption flaw that occurs when the firmware processes IOCTL requests containing JPEG image data. The affected driver fails to properly validate pointers or data structures before processing, allowing an attacker to supply malformed input that corrupts memory state.

When a malicious IOCTL request is processed, the untrusted pointer dereference can lead to memory corruption in kernel or privileged firmware execution contexts. This can be leveraged to achieve arbitrary read/write primitives, ultimately enabling code execution with elevated privileges. The local attack vector requires the attacker to have code execution capability on the target device, but only low-level privileges are needed to trigger the vulnerability.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-47387 is the absence of proper input validation and pointer verification in the IOCTL handling code for JPEG data processing. The firmware driver trusts user-supplied pointers or data structures without adequate bounds checking or address space verification, leading to an untrusted pointer dereference condition.

This type of vulnerability commonly arises in driver code that interfaces between user-space applications and kernel/firmware components, where the boundary between trusted and untrusted data is not properly enforced. The JPEG processing functionality accepts IOCTL parameters that contain or reference memory addresses without verifying they point to valid, accessible memory regions.

Attack Vector

An attacker with local access to an affected device can exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious IOCTL request targeting the vulnerable JPEG processing functionality. The attack requires:

1. Local code execution capability on the device (e.g., through a malicious application)
2. Ability to invoke the vulnerable IOCTL handler
3. Crafted IOCTL parameters containing malformed JPEG data or invalid pointer references

The exploitation flow involves sending specially crafted IOCTL commands to the vulnerable driver. When the driver processes these commands without proper validation, it dereferences an attacker-controlled pointer, enabling memory corruption that can be leveraged for privilege escalation or arbitrary code execution.

Due to the nature of this vulnerability in firmware-level code, successful exploitation could compromise the integrity of the entire system, potentially affecting secure boot chains or trusted execution environments on affected Qualcomm platforms.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-47387

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected system crashes or kernel panics in audio/media processing drivers on Qualcomm-based devices
• Anomalous IOCTL calls targeting JPEG or media processing components with unusual parameter sizes
• Signs of privilege escalation from low-privileged processes to kernel or firmware-level access
• Memory corruption artifacts or unusual memory access patterns in driver logs

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for unusual IOCTL activity on Qualcomm driver interfaces, particularly those handling media/JPEG data
• Implement kernel-level monitoring to detect anomalous memory access patterns consistent with pointer corruption
• Deploy endpoint detection solutions capable of identifying exploitation attempts against device drivers
• Review crash dumps for signatures matching untrusted pointer dereference exploitation

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable enhanced logging for Qualcomm driver components on affected devices
• Implement behavioral monitoring for processes attempting to interact with low-level driver IOCTLs
• Monitor firmware integrity using attestation mechanisms where available
• Establish baseline behavior profiles for media processing operations to detect anomalies

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-47387

Immediate Actions Required

• Review the Qualcomm December 2025 Security Bulletin for patch availability
• Inventory all devices using affected Qualcomm chipsets and firmware versions
• Apply firmware updates from device OEMs as they become available
• Restrict access to affected devices and limit installation of untrusted applications

Patch Information

Qualcomm has disclosed this vulnerability in their December 2025 Security Bulletin. Organizations should consult the official security bulletin for specific patch details and coordinate with device manufacturers (OEMs) for firmware update distribution.

Since this is a firmware-level vulnerability, patches must be delivered through the device manufacturer's update channels. For enterprise deployments, coordinate with your MDM (Mobile Device Management) or UEM (Unified Endpoint Management) solution to track and deploy updates across affected device fleets.

Workarounds

• Limit application installation on affected devices to trusted sources only to reduce local attack surface
• Implement application sandboxing and permission restrictions to prevent untrusted code from accessing driver IOCTLs
• Enable SELinux or other mandatory access control policies in enforcing mode where supported
• Consider network segmentation for devices containing sensitive data until patches can be applied

# Example: Check for affected Qualcomm components on Android devices
# Via ADB shell (requires developer access)
adb shell getprop ro.board.platform
adb shell cat /sys/devices/soc0/soc_id

# Review installed firmware versions
adb shell dumpsys package | grep -i qualcomm