Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-1905 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon memory-safety flaw. A local attacker could potentially cause serious confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact on affected Snapdragon-based devices. CISA lists it in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, so treat exposed affected assets as a real operational risk, not just a theoretical bug.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for managed mobile, embedded, IoT, automotive, and wearable fleets using affected Snapdragon components. KEV status raises urgency, but the local attack vector makes asset ownership, patch availability, and device lifecycle status central to risk decisions.
Technical view
The CVE describes a CWE-416 use-after-free caused by improper handling of memory mapping across multiple processes simultaneously. CVSS 3.1 is 8.4 with local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction. Affected categories include Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Connectivity, Consumer IoT, Industrial IoT, Mobile, Voice & Music, and Wearables.
Likely exposure
Likely exposure is endpoint, mobile, embedded, IoT, automotive, or wearable products containing affected Qualcomm Snapdragon components listed by the CVE and Qualcomm bulletin. The attack vector is local, so remote internet exposure is not established by the provided sources.
Exploitation context
CISA KEV marks CVE-2021-1905 as known exploited. The provided sources do not describe exploit methods, affected attack campaigns, required local access path, or whether exploitation is currently widespread.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports high severity, CWE-416, local attack vector, broad Snapdragon product impact, and KEV-listed exploitation. The source bundle does not provide exploit details, technical root-cause depth, proof-of-concept status, or specific patched firmware versions.
Mitigation direction
- Check Qualcomm's May 2021 security bulletin for vendor guidance and affected component details.
- Prioritize firmware or security updates from the device OEM or platform vendor.
- Inventory Snapdragon-based products against the affected product list.
- Apply compensating controls where updates are unavailable for managed endpoints or embedded devices.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether assets use affected Qualcomm Snapdragon components or listed part numbers.
- Check device firmware and security patch levels against vendor advisories.
- Review mobile, IoT, automotive, and embedded asset inventories for unsupported models.
- Track remediation exceptions for devices without available vendor updates.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-416: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-1905 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.4 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- Yes
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CISA KEV status
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.55.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.4HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.qualcomm.com/company/product-security/bulletins/may-2021-bulletinCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-1905CVE reference · government-resource
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Use After Free
Use After Free represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.