Qualcomm Snapdragon chips are everywhere—they power your phone, your car's infotainment system, IoT gadgets, smart speakers, and industrial devices. In 2022, a vulnerability tagged CVE-2022-25710 was disclosed, affecting a wide range of Snapdragon-powered products. This post breaks down what happened, how it works, and what you can do about it—all in plain language.

What Is CVE-2022-25710?

CVE-2022-25710 describes a security bug in several Snapdragon chips. When an attacker disconnects from Bluetooth GATT (the protocol used for Bluetooth Low Energy communication) in a certain way, the software may try to access a part of memory that wasn’t set up—what’s called a *null pointer dereference*. This can crash the Bluetooth stack, causing a denial of service (DoS). In English: Bluetooth just stops working until you reboot the device.

Snapdragon Voice & Music

The list includes phones, cars, smart speakers, and connected industrial machines.

Let's take a look at a simplified explanation.

Bluetooth Low Energy devices use GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) for sending and receiving data. When a remote device (like headphones) disconnects, the operating system should clean everything up gracefully.

Problem: In vulnerable Qualcomm drivers, the code handling GATT disconnects sometimes forgets to check that certain memory pointers are valid. If they aren’t, the software accidentally tries to use a NULL pointer, resulting in a crash.

The below C-style pseudocode shows how this bug might look

// Vulnerable pseudo-code
void on_gatt_disconnect(Connection *conn) {
    Session *session = conn->session; // Could be NULL
    // Fails to check if session is NULL before using it
    session->cleanup(); // If session is NULL, crash!
}

The missing check should be

// Secure version
void on_gatt_disconnect(Connection *conn) {
    Session *session = conn->session;
    if (session != NULL) {
        session->cleanup();
    }
}

Exploit Details

An attacker needs to be in Bluetooth range. They pair or connect politely, then abruptly disconnect (or send a malformed disconnect). This triggers the code path with the missing check, causing the crash. Afterwards, the device’s Bluetooth is dead until a full restart.

The attack doesn’t allow taking control of your device or stealing data directly—it just knocks out the Bluetooth feature. In some critical applications (medical, automotive), this can be a big deal.

Has It Been Fixed?

Qualcomm released a patch in late 2022. If your device is still supported, installing updates from your manufacturer is the best fix. You can find Qualcomm’s security bulletin here:
- Qualcomm Security Bulletin - June 2022
- NIST CVE-2022-25710 Description

Check for updates on your device and make sure the Bluetooth firmware is up to date.

## Proof-of-Concept/Pseudo Exploit Sequence

Attacker connects using a regular BLE tool (could even be a Raspberry Pi running BlueZ).

3. Attacker sends a crafted disconnect packet—possibly, disconnecting right after requesting a GATT service very quickly.
4. The device’s Bluetooth stack receives the disconnect and hits the invalid pointer, causing the crash.

Example using gatttool (Linux)

gatttool -b XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX -I
# connect
[XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX][LE]> connect
# immediately disconnect
[XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX][LE]> disconnect
# (repeat rapidly, test various GATT operations)

Protective Steps

- Update your device to the latest firmware/software version.

Don’t ignore manufacturer security bulletins.

- If a product goes end-of-life and doesn’t get updates, consider the risk if Bluetooth reliability is essential for safety.

More Information

- Qualcomm June 2022 Security Bulletin (original)
- NIST NVD CVE-2022-25710

Conclusion

CVE-2022-25710 is a real-world demonstration of how even a simple oversight (skipping a NULL check) can have big impacts on everyday devices. There’s no full remote takeover here, but knocking out Bluetooth functionality can cause problems—especially in environments that depend on it. Always keep your devices updated and stay informed on security issues that might impact your technology!


*This post is original and written exclusively to clearly explain CVE-2022-25710 for everyday users, engineers, and security researchers.*

Timeline

Published on: 11/15/2022 10:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/17/2022 21:49:00 UTC