CVE-2024-21464 is a classic buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-120) found in Qualcomm Snapdragon components, specifically during the processing of IPA (IP Accelerator) statistics when no active clients are registered. The flaw arises from a failure to properly check the size of input data before copying it into a buffer, leading to memory corruption. This vulnerability affects a broad range of Qualcomm products including FastConnect 6700, 6900, 7800 modules, various Snapdragon mobile platforms such as Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 8+ Gen 1, and multiple wireless connectivity chips (e.g., WCD9370, WCN3950, WSA series). The vulnerability is exploitable locally without requiring privileges or user interaction, making it a significant risk for devices where an attacker can gain local code execution or access. The CVSS v3.1 score of 8.4 reflects high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, indicating potential for full system compromise. Although no public exploits are known yet, the vulnerability's nature and affected widespread hardware platforms make it a critical concern for mobile devices, embedded systems, and IoT devices using these Qualcomm components. The vulnerability was reserved in December 2023 and published in January 2025, with no patches currently linked, emphasizing the need for vigilance and proactive mitigation.

The impact of CVE-2024-21464 is substantial due to the widespread use of affected Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms in smartphones, tablets, IoT devices, and wireless communication modules globally. Successful exploitation can lead to arbitrary code execution, privilege escalation, and full compromise of device confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This can result in data leakage, device malfunction, persistent malware installation, or denial of service. Given the local access requirement, attackers with physical or local network access (e.g., via compromised apps or local interfaces) can leverage this vulnerability to escalate attacks. The broad product range affected means that millions of consumer and enterprise devices could be at risk, impacting mobile communications, secure transactions, and critical IoT infrastructure. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for mitigation, but the high severity score demands urgent attention to prevent future exploitation.

1. Monitor Qualcomm and device vendors for official patches and apply them immediately upon release. 2. Restrict local access to vulnerable devices by enforcing strong physical security and limiting local network exposure. 3. Employ application whitelisting and sandboxing to reduce the risk of local code execution that could trigger the vulnerability. 4. Use runtime protections such as stack canaries, ASLR, and DEP where supported by the device firmware to mitigate buffer overflow exploitation. 5. Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing focusing on local interfaces and IPA statistics processing components. 6. For enterprise deployments, consider network segmentation to isolate vulnerable devices and reduce attack surface. 7. Educate users and administrators about the risks of installing untrusted applications that could exploit local vulnerabilities. 8. Implement monitoring and anomaly detection for unusual local activity that might indicate exploitation attempts. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, runtime defenses, and proactive monitoring tailored to the local exploitation vector of this vulnerability.