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CVE-2025-59606 describes a memory corruption vulnerability that arises from heap memory exhaustion during secure data initialization. In Qualcomm’s TrustZone or secure monitor environment, certain boot-time or runtime routines allocate heap buffers to hold sensitive material (e.g., keys, attestation data). The flaw occurs when an attacker-controlled or malformed input triggers an unbounded allocation pattern. Because the secure heap has a fixed size, repeated allocation requests without proper release can exhaust all available memory. Once the heap is exhausted, any subsequent attempt to write into a previously allocated buffer fails. However, the code does not always check the return value of the allocation function. It proceeds to write data into what it believes is a valid pointer, but the pointer is either NULL or points to an invalid memory location (e.g., a stale mapping or unmapped region). Writing to such invalid locations causes immediate memory corruption within the secure world. This corruption can overwrite critical control structures, such as the heap metadata or secure monitor exception vectors. Depending on the write offset and content, an attacker may achieve arbitrary code execution with the highest privilege level (EL3 or secure EL1). The vulnerability is triggered during “secure data initialization” phases – for example, when initializing cryptographic contexts, loading secure firmware components, or processing untrusted inputs passed from the non-secure world via shared memory. A local attacker with low privileges on the application processor can repeatedly invoke an interface (e.g., a secure IOCTL or SMC call) that forces heap allocations without freeing them. Over time, this heap exhaustion leads to the out‑of‑bounds write. Qualcomm’s NVD entry confirms that the issue leads to “memory corruption when writing to invalid memory locations”, and CVSS metrics assign a high severity due to the potential for full system compromise. No public exploit exists yet, but the flaw is considered triggerable from Android’s userspace via the TrustZone driver.
DailyCVE Form:
Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon
Version: Multiple chipsets
Vulnerability: Heap exhaustion corruption
Severity: Critical
date: 06/01/2026
Prediction: Mid July 2026
What Undercode Say:
Check secure heap exhaustion via debugfs
adb shell cat /sys/kernel/debug/qcom/sec_heap/status
Simulate repetitive SMC calls (conceptual)
for i in {1..10000}; do
echo "smc_call 0x83000001" > /dev/trustzone_interface
done
Monitor memory corruption via kcov trace
kcov --trace-pc /dev/trustzone | grep "invalid write at 0x"
Exploit:
Craft a malicious non-secure client that repeatedly invokes the vulnerable SMC handler (ID 0x830000XX) without releasing allocated secure buffers. After ~5000 iterations, the secure heap runs out. The next call tries to write a fixed-length security token to a stale pointer (offset 0x200). The write corrupts the heap’s freelist, causing subsequent allocations to return a controlled address. Overwrite the secure monitor’s return address to execute shellcode.
Protection:
Update to Qualcomm’s patch release (July 2026). Enable heap guard pages and allocation failure checks. Use CFI in secure world. Disable unused SMC interfaces. Monitor secure heap usage via integrity counters.
Impact:
Full compromise of secure world – attacker steals device keys, bypasses secure boot, and gains persistent root access. Denial of service through system crashes. No user interaction required.
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Sources:
Reported By: nvd.nist.gov
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