CVE-2012-2980
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Samsung and HTC onTouchEvent method implementation for Android on the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide, HTC Merge, Sprint EVO Shift 4G, HTC ChaCha, AT&T Status, HTC Desire Z, T-Mobile G2, T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide, and Samsung Galaxy S stores touch coordinates in the dmesg buffer, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via a crafted application, as demonstrated by PIN numbers, telephone numbers, and text messages.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe onTouchEvent implementation in certain Samsung and HTC Android devices incorrectly writes touch coordinates to the kernel dmesg buffer. A malicious application can read this buffer to capture sensitive user input such as PINs, telephone numbers, and text messages entered via the touchscreen.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the device modelRun 'getprop ro.product.model' via ADB or check Settings > About Phone > Model numberAffected if The model matches one of: Att Status, Htc Chacha, Htc Desire, Htc Merge, Samsung Galaxy S, Sprint Evo Shift 4g, T Mobile G2, or T Mobile Mytouch 3g Slide
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Verify the Android OS versionCheck Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if The device is running any Android version on the affected models listed (all versions are vulnerable)
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Check if dmesg output is accessibleRun 'dmesg | grep -i touch' via ADB shell or examine if third-party apps can execute dmesgAffected if The dmesg command returns output containing touch coordinate data that is accessible to applications
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Inspect dmesg for logged touch eventsExecute 'dmesg' via ADB and search for touch-related log entries containing coordinate dataAffected if The dmesg buffer contains touch event coordinates (X, Y values) that can reveal user input locations
A user is affected if their device is one of the listed models and the dmesg output containing touch coordinates is readable by applications on the device.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataOrganizations should inventory affected devices and replace or retire those no longer receiving manufacturer updates. Where possible, deploy custom ROMs with the logging behavior removed, and restrict application permissions to limit exposure.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2980 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-2980 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data