Knox Enterprise Mobility ManagementApplication · Samsung

CVE-2017-10963

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-02-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
In Knox SDS IAM (Identity Access Management) and EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) 16.11 on Samsung mobile devices, a man-in-the-middle attacker can install any application into the Knox container (without the user's knowledge) by inspecting network traffic from a Samsung server and injecting content at a certain point in the update sequence. This installed application can further leak information stored inside the Knox container to the outside world.

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 · moderate confidence

A man-in-the-middle vulnerability in Samsung Knox SDS IAM/EMM 16.11 allows attackers on the same network to intercept traffic from Samsung servers during the update sequence and inject malicious applications into the Knox container without user knowledge, enabling subsequent data exfiltration from the container.

MitigationImplement network segmentation and ensure all communications with Samsung servers occur over properly validated TLS connections; consider using VPN for sensitive mobile traffic until Samsung releases an official patch for this vulnerability.

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
Knox Enterprise Mobility ManagementApplication
Affected:= 16.11
Knox Identity Access ManagementApplication
Affected:= 16.11

CVSS 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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Samsung Knox product in use
    Determine whether Samsung Knox Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) or Samsung Knox Identity Access Management (IAM) is deployed in the environment. Consult inventory records or check the installed software on management servers or managed devices.
    Affected if The environment uses either Samsung Knox EMM or Samsung Knox IAM software.
  2. Determine installed version of Samsung Knox
    Access the product management console or use the product's version check feature to identify the exact installed version number of Samsung Knox EMM or IAM.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 16.11.
  3. Verify update configuration
    Check whether the Samsung Knox installation is configured to receive automatic or manual updates from Samsung servers. Examine the update settings in the administration console or configuration files.
    Affected if The product is configured to receive updates from Samsung servers and the update mechanism is enabled.
  4. Assess network exposure during updates
    Review network architecture to determine if attackers on the same network segment could intercept traffic between the Samsung Knox installation and Samsung update servers during the update process.
    Affected if The system can be reached by malicious actors on the network during update operations, or TLS validation of Samsung server connections is not enforced.

A user is affected if Samsung Knox EMM or IAM version 16.11 is installed and configured to receive updates from Samsung servers over the network.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement network segmentation and ensure all communications with Samsung servers occur over properly validated TLS connections; consider using VPN for sensitive mobile traffic until Samsung releases an official patch for this vulnerability.

Fix this in Knox Enterprise Mobility Management Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-10963 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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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