AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-20782

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-17
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 LG mobile devices with Android OS 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 8.0, and 8.1 software. LG Advanced Flash (LAF) has a buffer overflow. The LG ID is LVE-SMP-190001 (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 · moderate confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in LG Advanced Flash (LAF), a factory flash utility present on LG mobile devices running Android OS 7.0 through 8.1. The overflow likely allows execution of arbitrary code or privilege escalation due to improper bounds checking when handling flash operations.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware/security patches from LG. Until patches are available, restrict access to LAF mode and disable USB debugging to reduce attack surface.

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= 7.2= 8.0= 8.1

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. Verify Android version on the LG device
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Software Info and check the Android version. Alternatively, run `getprop ro.build.version.release` via ADB shell or check the /system/build.prop file.
    Affected if The Android version is 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 8.0, or 8.1 (exact version matches listed in affected range)
  2. Confirm the device is an LG mobile device
    Check the device model by going to Settings > About Phone > Model number, or run `getprop ro.product.manufacturer` and `getprop ro.product.model` via ADB shell.
    Affected if The device is an LG phone or tablet running the affected Android versions
  3. Determine if LAF (LG Advanced Flash) mode is accessible
    LAF mode is typically accessed by powering off the device and holding a specific hardware key combination (often Volume Down + Power), or through developer options. Check if the device allows access to LAF/factory flash mode.
    Affected if LAF mode can be entered on the device - this is the vulnerable component
  4. Check USB debugging status
    Go to Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging. If Developer Options is hidden, enable it by tapping Build Number in About Phone 7 times, then check the setting.
    Affected if USB debugging is enabled - this increases the attack surface for exploiting the LAF vulnerability

A user is affected if they own an LG mobile device running Android 7.0 through 8.1 with LAF flash utility accessible, particularly if USB debugging is enabled.

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 vendor-supplied firmware/security patches from LG. Until patches are available, restrict access to LAF mode and disable USB debugging to reduce attack surface.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,200
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-20782 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