CVE-2025-47405: Qualcomm Fastconnect Buffer Overflow Flaw

CVE-2025-47405 Overview

CVE-2025-47405 is a memory corruption vulnerability affecting multiple Qualcomm chipsets and firmware components. The flaw occurs when processing camera sensor input/output control (IOCTL) codes with invalid output buffers. A local attacker with low privileges can trigger the condition to corrupt memory and impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected device. The vulnerability is tracked under [CWE-822] (Untrusted Pointer Dereference) and [CWE-119] (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer). Qualcomm disclosed the issue in its May 2026 Security Bulletin, and it affects a broad range of Snapdragon, FastConnect, WCD, WSA, and IQX product firmware.

Critical Impact

Local exploitation can lead to kernel-level memory corruption resulting in arbitrary code execution, sensitive data disclosure, or device compromise across dozens of Qualcomm-powered platforms.

Affected Products

• Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 and FastConnect 7800 (and firmware)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 5G, Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1, SC8380XP, SD865 5G (and firmware)
• Qualcomm IQX5121, IQX7181, QCA0000, WCD9380, WCD9385, WSA8810/8815/8840/8845/8845H (and firmware)

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-05-04 - CVE-2025-47405 published to NVD
• 2026-05-06 - Last updated in NVD database
• May 2026 - Qualcomm publishes security bulletin addressing the issue

Technical Details for CVE-2025-47405

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the camera sensor driver path that handles IOCTL commands from user space. When an IOCTL specifies an output buffer, the driver fails to properly validate the supplied pointer or buffer descriptor before writing results back. Supplying a crafted or invalid output buffer causes the kernel to dereference an untrusted pointer or write outside the intended buffer bounds. This produces deterministic memory corruption inside a privileged kernel context. Successful exploitation can yield local privilege escalation, kernel data tampering, or denial of service on the targeted device.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper validation of user-supplied output buffer pointers in the camera sensor IOCTL handler, mapped to [CWE-822] and [CWE-119]. The driver trusts the pointer or size value passed from user space and uses it directly in a write operation. Without bounds enforcement or pointer sanitization, the kernel performs writes to attacker-influenced addresses. This pattern is common in mobile SoC drivers where IOCTL surfaces are large and parameter validation is inconsistent.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local access with low privileges, no user interaction, and an unprivileged context capable of opening the camera sensor device node. An attacker delivers a malicious application or compromises an existing process with permission to issue camera IOCTLs. The application then issues a crafted IOCTL with an invalid output buffer pointer to trigger the corruption. The attack scope is unchanged but impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Because the camera sensor stack is exposed across many Snapdragon platforms, the same exploitation primitive applies broadly.

No public proof-of-concept or exploit code has been observed for CVE-2025-47405. Technical specifics are described in prose; see the Qualcomm Security Bulletin May 2026 for vendor-supplied details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-47405

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected kernel panics, crashes, or reboots referencing the camera sensor driver or cam_sensor kernel modules.
• Userspace processes without legitimate camera functionality opening /dev/v4l-subdev* or camera sensor IOCTL nodes.
• Logcat or kernel ring buffer entries showing repeated IOCTL failures with malformed buffer arguments.

Detection Strategies

• Monitor mobile device telemetry for abnormal access patterns to camera kernel device nodes from non-camera applications.
• Inspect crash dumps and tombstones for faults originating in Qualcomm camera sensor IOCTL paths.
• Correlate installation of unsigned or sideloaded applications with subsequent kernel instability events.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward Android dmesg, tombstone, and DropBox logs to a centralized analytics platform for kernel-fault baselining.
• Track firmware build identifiers across the fleet to confirm patched Qualcomm versions are deployed.
• Alert on processes invoking camera-related IOCTLs outside of approved camera service UIDs.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-47405

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply the firmware updates referenced in the Qualcomm May 2026 Security Bulletin to all affected SoCs and modules.
• Coordinate with device OEMs to confirm vendor patch availability and deployment timelines for downstream products.
• Restrict installation of untrusted applications on devices with affected Qualcomm chipsets until patches are applied.

Patch Information

Qualcomm has released firmware updates addressing the camera sensor IOCTL memory corruption. Patch availability and integration details are documented in the Qualcomm Security Bulletin May 2026. Downstream OEMs must incorporate these fixes into their device-specific firmware images and distribute them through standard over-the-air update channels.

Workarounds

• Enforce mobile application allowlisting to limit which apps can request camera permissions.
• Disable or restrict access to vulnerable camera subsystems on devices that do not require camera functionality.
• Apply enterprise mobile device management policies that block sideloading and require current vendor security patch levels.

# Verify Android security patch level and Qualcomm firmware build on managed devices
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch
adb shell getprop ro.vendor.build.fingerprint
adb shell getprop ro.boot.bootloader