Qualcomm Driver IOCTL Memory Corruption Vulnerability

hello@craftedsignal.io — Mon, 04 May 2026 17:16:21 +0000

A memory corruption vulnerability has been identified in Qualcomm drivers, tracked as CVE-2025-47408. This vulnerability occurs when one driver makes an Input/Output Control (IOCTL) call to another driver using a malformed or invalid input/output buffer. The flaw stems from improper validation or handling of the provided buffer, leading to a memory corruption condition. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to arbitrary code execution, privilege escalation, or a denial-of-service condition. This vulnerability was disclosed in the May 2026 Qualcomm Security Bulletin. The potential impact necessitates that detection engineering teams prioritize identifying and mitigating this threat across systems utilizing affected Qualcomm components.

Attack Chain

An attacker gains initial access to the system, potentially through social engineering or exploiting another vulnerability.
The attacker identifies a vulnerable Qualcomm driver that is susceptible to IOCTL calls with invalid buffers.
The attacker develops a malicious driver or application capable of making IOCTL calls.
The malicious driver crafts a specific IOCTL request with a purposefully malformed input/output buffer.
The malicious driver sends the crafted IOCTL request to the targeted Qualcomm driver.
The targeted Qualcomm driver receives the IOCTL request and attempts to process the invalid buffer.
Due to the malformed buffer, the driver’s memory management routines are corrupted, leading to a write to an arbitrary memory location.
The attacker leverages the memory corruption to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or cause a denial-of-service condition.

Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-47408 can have severe consequences. An attacker can gain complete control over the affected system, potentially leading to data theft, system compromise, or disruption of services. While the specific number of affected devices or sectors is not explicitly stated, the widespread use of Qualcomm components in various devices suggests a broad potential impact. If successful, this exploit could allow attackers to install persistent backdoors, steal sensitive information, or use the compromised device as a launching point for further attacks within the network.

Recommendation

Monitor process creations for unsigned or untrusted drivers being loaded, and deploy the first Sigma rule provided below, to identify potential malicious driver activity.
Enable driver verifier on test systems using Qualcomm drivers to trigger memory corruption issues and aid in reverse engineering the vulnerability.
Review Qualcomm’s May 2026 Security Bulletin for specific device models and affected driver versions to prioritize patching efforts.
Implement the second Sigma rule to detect suspicious IOCTL calls originating from unusual processes or locations, focusing on potential exploitation attempts of CVE-2025-47408.

Qualcomm Camera Driver Memory Corruption Vulnerability

hello@craftedsignal.io — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:16:30 +0000

A memory corruption vulnerability, identified as CVE-2026-21376, affects Qualcomm camera sensor drivers. The vulnerability stems from the driver’s failure to validate the size of the output buffer when processing IOCTL calls. This lack of validation can lead to a buffer over-read condition, where the driver attempts to access memory beyond the allocated buffer, resulting in memory corruption. The vulnerability was reported in the Qualcomm April 2026 Security Bulletin. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a local attacker to potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. This poses a significant risk to devices using affected Qualcomm camera sensor drivers.

Attack Chain

A malicious application is installed on the target device.
The application gains necessary privileges to interact with the camera sensor driver. This could potentially be achieved through exploiting other vulnerabilities or due to misconfigured permissions.
The application sends a crafted IOCTL request to the camera sensor driver.
The crafted IOCTL request triggers a specific function within the driver that accesses an output buffer.
The driver fails to validate the size of the output buffer before writing data to it.
Due to the insufficient size validation, the driver writes beyond the bounds of the allocated buffer, leading to a buffer over-read condition.
Memory corruption occurs as a result of the out-of-bounds write, potentially overwriting critical data structures or code.
An attacker may leverage the memory corruption to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the camera sensor driver.

Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2026-21376 can lead to memory corruption and potentially allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The number of affected devices is currently unknown, but this vulnerability affects systems utilizing Qualcomm camera sensor drivers. A successful attack could compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the device, potentially leading to data theft, system instability, or complete device compromise.

Recommendation

Apply the patches provided in the Qualcomm April 2026 Security Bulletin to remediate CVE-2026-21376. (Reference: https://docs.qualcomm.com/product/publicresources/securitybulletin/april-2026-bulletin.html)
Monitor process creation events for unusual processes spawned by camera-related drivers, using the Sigma rule provided below, to detect potential exploitation attempts.
Implement runtime buffer size validation in camera drivers, to prevent future exploitation attempts.

Driver-Vulnerability — CraftedSignal Threat Feed

Qualcomm Driver IOCTL Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Attack Chain

Impact

Recommendation

Qualcomm Camera Driver Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Attack Chain

Impact

Recommendation