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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-20567

CRITICAL · 9.8 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 →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 N(7.x), O(8.x), and P(9.0) (Exynos chipsets) software. A up_parm heap overflow leads to code execution in the bootloader. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-14993 (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

Heap overflow vulnerability in the up_parm function within the bootloader on Samsung mobile devices running Android N (7.x), O (8.x), and P (9.0) on Exynos chipsets. The overflow allows arbitrary code execution in the bootloader context, providing attackers with code execution at a highly privileged pre-OS level.

MitigationApply Samsung firmware security updates (SVE-2019-14993). If updates are unavailable, consider device replacement as bootloader vulnerabilities typically cannot be patched via standard OTA updates and require vendor-provided firmware reflash.

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= 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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify device manufacturer
    Run 'getprop ro.product.brand' or check Settings > About Phone > Manufacturer
    Affected if Device is not a Samsung brand product - this vulnerability only affects Samsung devices
  2. Verify Exynos chipset
    Check /proc/cpuinfo for 'Exynos' or run 'getprop ro.hardware' to identify the chipset variant
    Affected if Device uses a non-Exynos chipset (such as Qualcomm/Snapdragon) - the flaw is specific to Exynos variants only
  3. Confirm Android version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android version
    Affected if Android version is 7.0, 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, or 9.0 - versions outside this range are not affected
  4. Check Samsung firmware security patch date
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' to check the last security update date
    Affected if Security patch level is earlier than the SVE-2019-14993 fix date (typically early 2020) and device meets criteria in steps 1-3

User is affected if they own a Samsung device with an Exynos chipset running Android 7.0-9.0 and the device has not received the corresponding Samsung security firmware 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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Samsung firmware security updates (SVE-2019-14993). If updates are unavailable, consider device replacement as bootloader vulnerabilities typically cannot be patched via standard OTA updates and require vendor-provided firmware reflash.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Any Samsung firmware release from October 2019 or later containing Android Security Patch Level 2019-10-01 or newer for Exynos-based devices previously on Android 7.x

  1. Check the current Android version on the Samsung device (Settings > About Phone > Android version)
  2. Check for system updates via Settings > Software Update > Download and install
  3. If no update is available, contact Samsung support or the device manufacturer for firmware updates containing the SVE-2019-14993 patch
  4. Alternatively, consider upgrading to a device model with newer Android support (Android 10 or later) which includes upstreamed fixes for bootloader vulnerabilities
  5. For enterprise environments, ensure Samsung Knox or MDM solutions are deployed to detect compromised bootloader states
Caveat Upgrading to newer firmware may disable certain legacy features; some older devices may not receive updates beyond Android 9, requiring hardware replacement

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation40.0 h
  • Testing24.0 h
  • Review / QA16.0 h
88.0 hours of engineering $15,280
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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-2019-20567 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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