CVE Alert: CVE-2025-21488 – Qualcomm, Inc. – Snapdragon

Risk verdict

High risk: a remote, unauthenticated information-disclosure vulnerability in the Data Network Stack could expose memory contents via crafted RTP header padding; given the CVSS 3.1 score and network reach, it warrants urgent attention.

Why this matters

Exposed memory during RTP header decoding could leak tokens, session keys, or other sensitive data, potentially enabling cross-app data leakage or credential exposure. Qualcomm Snapdragon devices span mobile, IoT, wearables, and automotive segments, so the impact could be broad across fleets and supply chains.

Most likely attack path

An attacker on the same network can target RTP processing on a vulnerable device; no user interaction or privileges are required. The attacker would send crafted RTP packets (with padding bit set) to trigger the over-read, enabling data leakage without needing domain access or authenticated sessions. Lateral movement is unlikely from this vector alone, but data exfiltration could facilitate follow-on steps.

Who is most exposed

Devices with Snapdragon-based Data Network Stack handling RTP streams are at risk, including smartphones, wearables, IoT gateways, and automotive infotainment systems that routinely receive media or VoIP/RTP traffic.

Detection ideas

• Monitor RTP traffic for unusual padding bit patterns or malformed headers.
• Look for memory-access exceptions, crashes, or memory leakage in the network stack logs.
• Detect spikes in RTP sessions or anomalous data reads shortly after streaming starts.
• Correlate RTP session starts with abnormal host memory access events.
• IDS/IPS rules targeting RTP header anomalies in vulnerable components.

Mitigation and prioritisation

• Apply vendor security bulletin patches and update to fixed firmware immediately.
• Implement network controls to restrict RTP stream exposure to trusted endpoints; segment media traffic from sensitive workloads.
• If patching is delayed, deploy compensating controls and harden RTP processing where possible; perform thorough regression testing.
• Track KEV and EPSS once published; treat as priority 1 if exploitation indicators are confirmed or EPSS is ≥ 0.5.