AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-20565

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x) and P(9.0) software. Attackers can change the USB configuration without authentication. The Samsung ID is SVE-2018-13300 (September 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 confidence

Samsung mobile devices running Android O (8.x) and P (9.0) contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in the USB configuration settings. Attackers with physical access to the device or a malicious USB host can modify USB settings (such as USB debugging mode, file transfer mode, or charging behavior) without requiring any user authentication or confirmation.

MitigationApply the Samsung security patch released in September 2019 (SVE-2018-13300) to affected devices. Until patched, avoid connecting to untrusted USB hosts and disable USB debugging as a defense-in-depth measure.

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:= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check Android version on the device
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Software Information > Android version, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if The device is running Android 8.0, 8.1, or 9.0 specifically (exact version match)
  2. Check USB debugging status
    Navigate to Settings > Developer Options > USB debugging, or run 'adb shell settings get global development_enabled'
    Affected if USB debugging is enabled (value returns 1) - this increases exposure but the vulnerability can also affect devices with USB debugging disabled through malicious USB host connections
  3. Verify Samsung security patch level
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than September 2019 (the patch SVE-2018-13300 was released September 2019)

The device is affected if it runs Android 8.0, 8.1, or 9.0 and has a security patch level earlier than the September 2019 Samsung update, especially when USB connections to untrusted hosts are possible.

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 released in September 2019 (SVE-2018-13300) to affected devices. Until patched, avoid connecting to untrusted USB hosts and disable USB debugging as a defense-in-depth measure.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2019-20565 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