CVE-2025-21487VulnerabilityPublished 24 Sep 2025Updated 25 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-21487: Qualcomm Snapdragon · Buffer Over-read

Affects Qualcomm SnapdragonSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.2 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.2High

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 17% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
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: 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: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to 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 2026-10-26.

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

Given the absence of available patches at the time of disclosure, European organizations should implement layered mitigations to reduce exposure. Network-level filtering should be employed to monitor and block suspicious RTP traffic, especially from untrusted or external sources. Deploying intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or anomaly detection for malformed RTP packets can help detect exploitation attempts. Organizations should enforce strict network segmentation to isolate critical systems and limit RTP traffic to trusted endpoints. Device management policies should ensure that all Snapdragon-powered devices are updated promptly once vendor patches become available. Until patches are released, disabling or restricting RTP-based services where feasible can reduce attack surface. Vendors and device manufacturers should be engaged to prioritize firmware and software updates addressing this vulnerability. Additionally, organizations should conduct security awareness training to recognize potential indicators of compromise related to RTP traffic anomalies. For automotive and IoT deployments, applying secure update mechanisms and monitoring device telemetry for unusual behavior is critical. Finally, organizations should review and enhance their incident response plans to include scenarios involving information disclosure via network protocol exploitation.

Description

Information disclosure while decoding RTP packet received by UE from the network, when payload length mentioned is greater than the available buffer length.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-21487 is significant due to the widespread deployment of Qualcomm Snapdragon-based devices in corporate and consumer environments. Many employees use smartphones and tablets powered by Snapdragon platforms, and enterprises increasingly deploy IoT and wearable devices with these chipsets. The vulnerability could allow remote attackers to leak sensitive information from devices connected to corporate networks, potentially exposing confidential communications, authentication tokens, or cryptographic material. This poses a risk to data confidentiality and privacy compliance under regulations such as GDPR. In sectors like finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, where secure real-time communications are essential, exploitation could undermine trust and operational security. Additionally, automotive platforms affected by this vulnerability could impact connected vehicle systems used in European automotive manufacturing and smart transportation initiatives, raising safety and privacy concerns. Although no integrity or availability impacts are directly associated, the confidentiality breach alone can facilitate further attacks such as session hijacking or espionage. The lack of required privileges and user interaction means attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely and stealthily, increasing the threat level for organizations relying on Snapdragon-powered devices for secure communications.

CWE-126Buffer Over-read (opens in a new tab)
Variant weakness
The product reads from a buffer using buffer access mechanisms such as indexes or pointers that reference memory locations after the targeted buffer.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 2 Oct 2025, 01:05 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-126

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats