CVE-2019-6740
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 · uneditedThis vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Samsung Galaxy S9 prior to January 2019 Security Update (SMR-JAN-2019 - SVE-2018-13467). User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the ASN.1 parser. When parsing ASN.1 strings, the process does not properly validate the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-7472.
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 confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow in the ASN.1 parser of Samsung Galaxy S9. When parsing ASN.1 strings, the parser fails to validate the length of user-supplied data before copying it to a fixed-size heap buffer, allowing arbitrary code execution in the current process context.
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< 2019-01CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Confirm device model is Samsung Galaxy S9Go to Settings > About Phone > Model Number, or run 'getprop ro.product.model' via ADB shellAffected if Model number is not SM-G960 (Galaxy S9) or SM-G965 (Galaxy S9+)
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Check firmware build dateGo to Settings > About Phone > Build Number, or run 'getprop ro.build.date' via ADB shell. The build date indicates the firmware release date.Affected if Build date is prior to January 2019 (e.g., December 2018 or earlier)
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Check Android security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shellAffected if Security patch level is earlier than January 2019 (e.g., 2018-12-01)
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Verify SMR-JAN-2019 update statusCheck for system update in Settings > Software Update, or verify the SMR-JAN-2019 patch is listed in Settings > About Phone > Software Information > Security software versionAffected if The January 2019 Samsung Security Update (SMR-JAN-2019) is not installed
A Samsung Galaxy S9 device is affected if its firmware/build date or security patch level predates the January 2019 Samsung security update.
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 data2019-01
Apply the Samsung January 2019 Security Update (SMR-JAN-2019) to Samsung Galaxy S9 devices to remediate the ASN.1 parser vulnerability (SVE-2018-13467).
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-6740 — 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-2019-6740 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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