CVE-2025-21482VulnerabilityPublished 24 Sep 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-21482: Qualcomm Snapdragon · Cryptographic Issues

Affects Qualcomm SnapdragonSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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

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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Sep 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 2026-10-25.

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-2025-21482, organizations and device manufacturers should prioritize the following actions: 1) Monitor Qualcomm advisories closely and apply official patches or firmware updates as soon as they become available to address the RSA PKCS padding decoding flaw. 2) Implement strict access controls and privilege separation on affected devices to minimize the risk of local attackers gaining the necessary privileges to exploit the vulnerability. 3) Employ hardware-based security features such as Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) and secure boot mechanisms to protect cryptographic keys and sensitive operations from tampering. 4) Conduct thorough security audits and penetration testing focused on cryptographic implementations and local privilege escalation vectors within Snapdragon-based platforms. 5) For organizations deploying IoT or automotive devices, ensure physical security controls are robust to prevent unauthorized local access. 6) Where possible, use additional layers of encryption or cryptographic validation at the application level to reduce reliance on vulnerable hardware cryptographic functions. 7) Educate security teams about the nature of cryptographic padding vulnerabilities and the importance of layered defenses to detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts. These measures combined will reduce the attack surface and limit the potential damage from this vulnerability.

Description

Cryptographic issue while performing RSA PKCS padding decoding.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2025-21482 is considerable due to the extensive deployment of affected Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms globally. Exploiting this vulnerability could allow attackers with local access to bypass cryptographic protections, potentially exposing sensitive data such as encryption keys, authentication tokens, or confidential communications. This could lead to unauthorized data disclosure, manipulation of cryptographic operations, and undermining of device security features. The integrity of cryptographic processes is critical for secure boot, secure communications, and trusted execution environments; thus, exploitation could facilitate further attacks including privilege escalation, firmware tampering, or interception of secure communications. The broad range of affected devices—from mobile phones to automotive and IoT platforms—means that both consumer privacy and critical infrastructure security could be compromised. Organizations relying on Snapdragon-based devices for sensitive operations, including telecommunications providers, automotive manufacturers, and IoT service providers, face increased risk of data breaches and operational disruptions. The requirement for local privileges limits remote exploitation but does not eliminate risk, especially in scenarios where attackers gain physical access or leverage other vulnerabilities to achieve local code execution.

CWE-310Cryptographic Issues (opens in a new tab)
CategoryOWASP Top 10 A02:2021: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
Weaknesses in this category are related to the design and implementation of data confidentiality and integrity. Frequently these deal with the use of encoding techniques, encryption libraries, and hashing algorithms. The weaknesses in this category could lead to a degradation of the quality data if they are not addressed.
MITRE does not allow mapping vulnerabilities to this entry; it groups weaknesses rather than naming one.

References

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

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 00:48 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-310

Technical details

References

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