# CVE-2018-11838: Use after free in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music

> A double free vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon WLAN firmware allows attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Mar 2020
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-78qw-h77p-37m8

## What is CVE-2018-11838?

CVE-2018-11838 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Qualcomm Apq8053 Firmware, published on 5 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Possible double free issue in WLAN due to lack of checking memory free condition. in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music in APQ8053, MDM9640, SDA660, SDM636, SDM660, SDX20

Weakness: CWE-415 (Double Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-11838?

It affects 6 products.


Products: Qualcomm Apq8053 Firmware, Qualcomm Mdm9640 Firmware, Qualcomm Sda660 Firmware, Qualcomm Sdm636 Firmware, Qualcomm Sdm660 Firmware, Qualcomm Sdx20 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-11838?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-11838 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-11838 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-11838 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Qualcomm Apq8053 Firmware

- [CVE-2022-22071](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22071/): Qualcomm Multiple Chipsets Use-After-Free (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-11153](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11153/): Memory corruption in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-3703](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3703/): Memory corruption in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-14080](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14080/): Memory corruption in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Wearables (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-3628](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3628/): Information disclosure in Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Mobile (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-11838 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-11838 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Qualcomm Apq8053 Firmware, published on 5 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-11838 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qualcomm Apq8053 Firmware. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11838/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11838/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-11838
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-11838
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-11838

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11838/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.