VulnerabilityPublished 8 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-21433: Qualcomm Snapdragon · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Qualcomm SnapdragonSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.2 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:15 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.2Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.08% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 8 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-21433, organizations should implement a multi-layered approach beyond generic patching advice. First, identify all devices and systems utilizing affected Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms through asset inventory and hardware/software audits. Since no official patches or updates are currently linked, monitor Qualcomm and device vendor advisories closely for forthcoming firmware or software updates addressing this vulnerability. In the interim, restrict local access to critical devices by enforcing strict physical security controls and limiting administrative privileges to trusted personnel only. Implement application whitelisting and input validation controls on systems that handle RSA private keys to detect and block malformed or suspicious key imports. For environments where importing RSA keys is necessary, enforce strict validation of key formats and sizes at the application or middleware level to prevent malformed keys from reaching vulnerable components. Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor for abnormal crashes or denial of service symptoms indicative of exploitation attempts. Additionally, educate staff on secure key management practices to avoid accidental introduction of malformed keys. For embedded or IoT devices, consider network segmentation to isolate vulnerable devices from critical infrastructure, minimizing potential impact. Finally, prepare incident response plans that include procedures for handling denial of service events related to this vulnerability.

Description

Transient DOS when importing a PKCS#8-encoded RSA private key with a zero-sized modulus.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-21433 primarily revolves around availability disruptions in devices and systems using affected Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms. Enterprises relying on mobile devices, embedded systems, or IoT infrastructure powered by these chipsets could experience transient outages or crashes if an attacker manages to supply a crafted PKCS#8 RSA private key with a zero-sized modulus. While the vulnerability requires local access, scenarios such as compromised internal devices, malicious insiders, or supply chain attacks could enable exploitation. Critical sectors such as telecommunications, automotive, manufacturing, and healthcare that deploy Qualcomm-based embedded systems or mobile devices may face operational interruptions. Although the vulnerability does not compromise confidentiality or integrity, denial of service conditions could degrade service availability, impacting business continuity and user experience. Additionally, given the widespread use of Qualcomm chipsets in consumer and industrial devices, the potential for cascading effects in interconnected systems exists if vulnerable devices are part of larger operational technology or communication networks. However, the lack of remote exploitability and no requirement for user interaction somewhat limits the attack surface, reducing the likelihood of widespread exploitation without physical or local access.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

docs.qualcomm.com/product/publicresources/securitybulletin/july-2025-bulletin.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 8 Jul 2025, 13:15 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-476

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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