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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2020-0120

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-07-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
In notifyErrorForPendingRequests of QCamera3HWI.cpp, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a heap buffer overflow. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10Android ID: A-149995442

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 heap buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the notifyErrorForPendingRequests function within QCamera3HWI.cpp, which is part of Android's camera hardware abstraction layer (HAL). The out-of-bounds write could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges without requiring additional execution privileges or user interaction.

MitigationApply the Android security patch for January 2020 or later, which contains the fix for this camera HAL vulnerability. Organizations should ensure devices are running patched Android-10 versions.

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check Android version is 10.0
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if Android version equals 10.0 exactly (not 9, 11, or later)
  2. Verify device uses Qualcomm camera HAL
    Check for presence of QCamera3HWI.cpp in /vendor or /system/libhw or run 'getprop ro.camera.hal' to identify the camera HAL implementation
    Affected if Device runs a Qualcomm-based camera HAL (QCamera3) on Android 10.0
  3. Confirm camera service is active
    Run 'dumpsys camera' via ADB or check if camera app can access camera hardware
    Affected if Camera service is running and accessible on the device

Device is affected if it is running Android 10.0 with an active Qualcomm camera HAL implementation containing the vulnerable QCamera3HWI component.

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 Android security patch for January 2020 or later, which contains the fix for this camera HAL vulnerability. Organizations should ensure devices are running patched Android-10 versions.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,840
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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-2020-0120 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