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Vulnerability record · CVE-2021-1906 · published 7 May 2021

CVE-2021-1906: Qualcomm Snapdragon GPU address deregistration failure causes allocation denial

Qualcomm · Apq8009 Firmware

Improper handling of address deregistration on failure in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets can cause subsequent GPU address allocation to fail. The flaw is a local, low-privilege availability issue affecting a wide range of Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Connectivity, IoT, Mobile, Voice & Music and Wearables products. It matters because a failed GPU address allocation can degrade or deny graphics and compute functionality on affected devices.

5.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium CISA KEV since 3 Nov 2021 EPSS 0.52% · top 58.2%
5.5CVSS 3.1 base score, v2 2.1
0.52%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
YesIn CISA KEV, fix deadline passed
150Affected product versions listed by NVD
3References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

Improper handling of address deregistration on failure can lead to new GPU address allocation failure. in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Compute, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT, Snapdragon Mobile, Snapdragon Voice & Music, Snapdragon Wearables

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

Automated analysis

Generated by VULONE's analysis model from the NVD record, CISA KEV and EPSS data on 17 September 2026. Confidence: medium.

high priorityIt is in CISA KEV with known exploitation, but the CVSS impact is availability-only at medium severity and requires local low-privilege access.

What it is

Improper handling of address deregistration on failure in Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets can cause subsequent GPU address allocation to fail. The flaw is a local, low-privilege availability issue affecting a wide range of Snapdragon Auto, Compute, Connectivity, IoT, Mobile, Voice & Music and Wearables products. It matters because a failed GPU address allocation can degrade or deny graphics and compute functionality on affected devices.

Impact

An attacker with local low-privilege access can trigger a GPU address allocation failure, causing a denial of service on graphics or compute operations. There is no confidentiality or integrity impact per the CVSS vector.

Attack surface

Reached locally (AV:L) with low privileges required (PR:L) and no user interaction (UI:N), per the CVSS vector. The description does not specify the exact interface or call path used to trigger the deregistration failure.

Exploitation

CVE-2021-1906 is listed in CISA KEV with a required action to apply vendor updates, indicating known exploitation. EPSS 30-day probability is 0.0052 (42.9th percentile), and no ransomware campaign use is documented.

What to do

  • Apply the Qualcomm May 2021 security bulletin updates for all affected chipsets as the primary fix.
  • Track affected device firmware against the Qualcomm product list and prioritize patching of exposed or high-value endpoints.
  • Restrict local access and limit low-privilege code execution on affected devices where patching is delayed.
  • Monitor vendor advisories for updated firmware revisions covering additional affected products.

Detection

  • Monitor device and kernel logs for GPU address allocation failures or repeated graphics driver errors on affected Qualcomm chipsets.
  • Alert on unexpected GPU or graphics service crashes and restarts that correlate with local process activity.
  • Baseline normal GPU allocation behavior per device model and flag sustained allocation failure patterns.

This assessment is produced automatically and is not human-reviewed. Verify against the vendor advisory before acting on it.

Exploitation in the wild

CISA added CVE-2021-1906 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 3 November 2021 as "Qualcomm Multiple Chipsets Detection of Error Condition Without Action Vulnerability". Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Federal deadline 17 November 2021.

Affected products

150 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://www.qualcomm.com/company/product-security/bulletins/may-2021-bulletin PatchVendor Advisory
https://www.qualcomm.com/company/product-security/bulletins/may-2021-bulletin PatchVendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-1906 US Government Resource

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2021-1906), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.