CVE-2016-1920
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 · uneditedSamsung KNOX 1.0.0 uses the shared certificate on Android, which allows local users to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks as demonstrated by installing a certificate and running a VPN service.
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 confidenceSamsung KNOX 1.0.0 embeds a shared/default certificate in its Android implementation. This allows a local user with device access to install an additional certificate and configure a VPN service, enabling them to intercept traffic intended for other applications and conduct man-in-the-middle attacks against the device's network communications.
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 data= 1.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 Samsung KNOX versionCheck the KNOX version on the Samsung device - typically found in Settings > Security > KNOX or in the KNOX settings menu. Verify if the version is exactly 1.0.0.Affected if The device is running Samsung KNOX version 1.0.0 specifically.
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Inspect certificate store for shared certificatesAccess the device's certificate storage (Settings > Security > Install from storage) and examine installed CA certificates. Look for any default or shared certificates that appear to be pre-installed by KNOX rather than user-added.Affected if A pre-installed shared or default CA certificate exists in the device certificate store.
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Check for VPN configuration capabilityNavigate to Settings > Network & Internet > VPN (or Settings > Connections > VPN) and attempt to add a VPN profile. Observe if the device allows importing additional certificates for VPN authentication.Affected if The device permits adding custom VPN configurations with user-imported certificates.
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Verify if default KNOX VPN profile existsCheck the VPN settings for any pre-configured VPN profiles associated with KNOX default certificates. Look for VPN configurations that may be using the shared certificate for authentication.Affected if A VPN profile is configured using the default shared certificate.
A device is affected if it runs Samsung KNOX 1.0.0 and contains the pre-installed shared default certificate that could enable a local attacker to configure a VPN for traffic interception.
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 dataReplace the shared certificate with unique, per-instance certificates or implement certificate pinning. Consider upgrading to a newer KNOX version if available, as KNOX 1.0.0 is an older product.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1920 — 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-2016-1920 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
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