CVE-2019-20605
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.x), O(8.x), and P(9.0) (Exynos chipsets) software. A heap overflow occurs for baseband in the Shannon modem. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-14071 (May 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 · high confidenceA heap overflow vulnerability exists in the Shannon modem/baseband component of Samsung mobile devices running Android N (7.x), O (8.x), and P (9.0) on Exynos chipsets. This memory corruption vulnerability in the baseband firmware could potentially allow remote code execution or denial of service attacks with no user interaction required.
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= 7.0= 7.1.0= 7.1.1= 7.1.2= 8.0= 8.1= 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
- 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 the device manufacturerCheck if the device is a Samsung brand by reviewing the device settings under Settings > About Phone > Manufacturer or ModelAffected if Device is not a Samsung brand - not affected by this CVE
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Confirm the chipset is ExynosCheck the device specifications or use a system info app to identify the processor/chipset. On Samsung Exynos devices, the baseband processor handles modem functionsAffected if Device uses a non-Exynos chipset (such as Qualcomm Snapdragon) - not affected by this CVE
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Verify the Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version. The vulnerability affects Android 7.x, 8.x, and 9.0 specificallyAffected if Android version is 10.0 or higher, or 6.x or lower - not affected by this CVE (the fix was incorporated in Android 10 or through vendor patches)
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Check the security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level. Look for the date of the installed security updateAffected if Security patch level is May 2019 or later (SVE-2019-14071) - likely protected; if older than May 2019, the device may be vulnerable
The device is affected if it is a Samsung device with an Exynos chipset running Android 7.0-9.0 and lacking the May 2019 security patch.
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 the Samsung security patch released in May 2019 (SVE-2019-14071) or update to a newer Android version that includes the baseband fix. Organizations should inventory affected Exynos-based Samsung devices and prioritize patching.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20605 — 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-2019-20605 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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