CVE-2019-20580
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 P(9.0) software. The Motion photo player allows attackers to bypass the Secure Folder feature to view images. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-14653 (August 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 Android P (9.0) contain an access control bypass in the Motion photo player that allows unauthorized viewing of images stored in the Secure Folder. The Secure Folder is Samsung's protected storage for sensitive files, but a flaw in the Motion photo player implementation fails to properly enforce the Secure Folder isolation, allowing attackers with physical device access to bypass authentication and view protected images.
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= 9.0CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Android version is 9.0Go to Settings > About Phone > Software Information and check the Android version fieldAffected if Android version is exactly 9.0 (Pie)
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Confirm device is SamsungCheck Settings > About Phone > Model Name or Manufacturer - Secure Folder is a Samsung-specific featureAffected if Device is a Samsung model (Secure Folder is only available on Samsung devices)
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Check if Secure Folder contains imagesOpen Secure Folder app and verify if any images or photos are stored in the protected folderAffected if Secure Folder contains images or photos that could be accessed through the vulnerable Motion photo player
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Verify Samsung security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Software Information > Security patch level and check the dateAffected if Security patch level is August 2019 or earlier (unpatched devices are vulnerable)
A user is affected if they have a Samsung device running Android 9.0 with Secure Folder containing images and a security patch level older than August 2019.
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 dataApply Samsung's August 2019 security update (SVE-2019-14653) which patches the Motion photo player vulnerability. Users should verify their devices have received the latest Samsung security patches and avoid storing highly sensitive images in Secure Folder until the patch is applied.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20580 — 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-2019-20580 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data