# CVE-2021-1981: Memory corruption in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile

> A buffer over-read in Qualcomm Snapdragon firmware allows attackers to cause denial of service or disclose information via crafted network requests.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Nov 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xgw2-jw8v-c2pm

## What is CVE-2021-1981?

CVE-2021-1981 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Qualcomm Apq8017 Firmware, published on 12 Nov 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Possible buffer over read due to improper IE size check of Bearer capability IE in MT setup request from network in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-1981?

It affects 90 products.


Products: Qualcomm Apq8017 Firmware, Qualcomm Ar8035 Firmware, Qualcomm Msm8917 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6390 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6391 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6421 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6426 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6431 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6436 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6574a Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6574au Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6595au Firmware, Qualcomm Qca6696 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca8081 Firmware, Qualcomm Qca8337 Firmware, Qualcomm Qcm6125 Firmware, Qualcomm Qcm6490 Firmware, Qualcomm Qcs410 Firmware, Qualcomm Qcs610 Firmware, Qualcomm Qcs6125 Firmware and 70 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-1981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-1981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-1981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Qualcomm Apq8017 Firmware

- [CVE-2025-21483](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21483/): Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer in Data Network Stack & Connectivity (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-1933](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1933/): Denial of service in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Wearables (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-1946](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1946/): Null dereference in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-11176](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11176/): Memory corruption in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-11291](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11291/): Memory corruption in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon IoT, Snapdragon Mobile (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-1981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-1981 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Qualcomm Apq8017 Firmware, published on 12 Nov 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qualcomm Apq8017 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-2021-1981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-1981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-1981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-1981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.