CVE-2019-20536
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with N(7.1), O(8.x), and P(9.0) (released in China) software. The Firewall application mishandles the PermissionWhiteLists protection mechanism. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-14299 (November 2019).
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 confidenceSamsung mobile devices running China-specific software versions N(7.1), O(8.x), and P(9.0) contain a vulnerability in the native Firewall application where the PermissionWhiteLists protection mechanism is improperly handled, potentially allowing unauthorized network access or permission bypass.
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= 7.1= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0= 10.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Samsung mobile devices in your environmentInventory all mobile devices and filter for Samsung manufacturersAffected if The device is a Samsung mobile device running China-specific software versions N(7.1), O(8.x), or P(9.0)
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Check Android version on Samsung devicesUse MDM, device management console, or check device Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if Android version is 7.1, 8.0, 8.1, or 9.0 (the affected N, O, and P version ranges)
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Determine if device runs China-specific firmwareCheck device model number, build number, or firmware variant for China-specific regional identifiersAffected if Device is running China-specific software variant (required for this vulnerability)
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Verify Samsung Firewall application is presentCheck if the native Samsung Firewall app (com.samsung.android.firewall or similar package) is installed on the deviceAffected if The native Firewall application exists on the device
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Inspect Firewall PermissionWhiteLists configurationUse ADB to examine Firewall app permissions or check if PermissionWhiteLists can be bypassed: adb shell dumpsys package <firewall_package>Affected if PermissionWhiteLists protection mechanism can be circumvented or is improperly configured
You are affected if you have Samsung mobile devices running China-specific Android 7.1, 8.x, or 9.0 firmware with the native Firewall application enabled.
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 Samsung mobile devices in their environment, apply available Samsung security patches (SVE-2019-14299), and consider network segmentation or MDM policies to restrict network communications from unpatched devices until vendor updates are available.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20536 — 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-2019-20536 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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