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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2018-21070

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
89/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with N(7.x), O(8.0) devices (MSM8998 or SDM845 chipsets) software. An attacker can bypass Secure Boot and obtain root access because of a missing Bootloader integrity check. The Samsung ID is SVE-2018-11552 (May 2018).

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 confidence

This vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass Secure Boot on affected Samsung mobile devices (MSM8998 or SDM845 chipsets running Android N 7.x or O 8.0) due to a missing bootloader integrity check, enabling root access. The issue stems from the bootloader not validating its own integrity before execution.

MitigationApply the Samsung security patch (SVE-2018-11552, May 2018) via OTA update. Users of affected devices should ensure they have received and installed the May 2018 security update from Samsung.

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
AndroidOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 7.1.0= 7.1.1= 7.1.2= 8.0

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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. Verify Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if Version is 7.0, 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, or 8.0
  2. Check chipset model
    Run 'getprop ro.hardware' or 'getprop ro.board.platform' via ADB, or check device specifications
    Affected if Chipset is MSM8998 or SDM845
  3. Confirm security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB
    Affected if Patch level is earlier than May 2018 or the SVE-2018-11552 update has not been applied

A device is affected if it uses an MSM8998 or SDM845 chipset, runs Android 7.0-7.1.2 or 8.0, and lacks the May 2018 Samsung security update.

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

Apply the Samsung security patch (SVE-2018-11552, May 2018) via OTA update. Users of affected devices should ensure they have received and installed the May 2018 security update from Samsung.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,060
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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-2018-21070 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data