AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2020-0080

HIGH · 7.8 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 →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
In onOpActiveChanged and related methods of AppOpsControllerImpl.java, there is a possible way to display an app overlaying other apps without the notification icon that it's overlaying. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with User execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10Android ID: A-144092031

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

This is a vulnerability in Android's AppOpsControllerImpl where the system fails to display the required notification icon when an app is actively overlaying other apps. This allows a malicious application to perform overlay-based attacks (tapjacking) without user awareness, potentially leading to local privilege escalation. The vulnerability is in the onOpActiveChanged method which controls the UI notification for app overlay operations.

MitigationApply the February 2020 Android security patch or later to devices running Android 10. Users should ensure their devices receive regular security updates to mitigate this 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
AndroidOperating system
Affected:= 10.0

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if Version is exactly 10.0 and no security patch has been applied
  2. Verify security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell
    Affected if Patch level is earlier than 2020-02-01 or is not displayed
  3. Confirm overlay permission is granted
    Go to Settings > Apps > Special access > Draw over other apps, or check if any app holds the android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission via ADB shell with 'dumpsys package <package_name>'
    Affected if Apps have SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission granted on an unpatched Android 10.0 device

A device is affected if it runs Android 10.0 and has a security patch level earlier than February 2020, with apps capable of drawing overlays present.

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 the February 2020 Android security patch or later to devices running Android 10. Users should ensure their devices receive regular security updates to mitigate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation10.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,320
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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-2020-0080 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