CVE-2019-20616
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) and O(8.x) software. Gallery leaks a thumbnail of Private Mode content. The Samsung ID is SVE-2018-13563 (March 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 confidenceThe Samsung Gallery application on devices running Android N (7.x) and O (8.x) incorrectly displays thumbnail previews of images and videos that should be hidden when Private Mode is enabled. This allows private content to be visually exposed to users who should not see it, creating a privacy information disclosure vulnerability.
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= 8.1CVSS 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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Identify Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version and confirm the installed version is 7.0, 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, or 8.1Affected if The device runs any of these specific Android versions (7.x or 8.x)
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Confirm Samsung Gallery applicationNavigate to Settings > Apps > Gallery (or Samsung Gallery) and verify the application is installedAffected if Samsung Gallery app is present on the device
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Locate Private Mode settingsOpen Samsung Gallery app, access menu or settings, and look for Private Mode option or iconAffected if Private Mode feature exists and is accessible in the Gallery app
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Test Private Mode thumbnail visibilityEnable Private Mode in Samsung Gallery, add content to private storage, then check if thumbnail previews of that content appear in the main gallery view when Private Mode should be hiding themAffected if Thumbnails of private content are visibly displayed in the gallery while Private Mode is intended to be hiding them
A user is affected if their Samsung device runs Android 7.x or 8.x, has Samsung Gallery installed, and private content thumbnails are displayed when Private Mode should be concealing them.
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 update (SVE-2018-13563) released March 2019 which fixes the Gallery application's handling of Private Mode content thumbnails. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest Samsung software.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20616 — 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-2019-20616 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