AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2020-0249

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 postInstantAppNotif of InstantAppNotifier.java, there is a possible permission bypass due to a PendingIntent error. This could lead to local information disclosure with User execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10 Android-8.0 Android-8.1 Android-9Android ID: A-154719656

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 confidence

A PendingIntent permission bypass in the postInstantAppNotif function of InstantAppNotifier.java allows a local attacker with user execution privileges to potentially access information without proper authorization. The PendingIntent is not properly secured, enabling information disclosure.

MitigationApply Android security patches from the device manufacturer. This is a platform-level vulnerability requiring a system update rather than application-level remediation.

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:= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0= 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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checks

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

  1. Identify Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if The version is 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 exactly as listed in the affected versions
  2. Check if Instant Apps are enabled
    Go to Settings > Apps > Google Play Services > Instant Apps, or check via 'getprop ro.gservices.instantapp' via ADB shell
    Affected if Instant Apps functionality is enabled on the device; the vulnerable code path in InstantAppNotifier.java only executes when this feature is active
  3. Verify Android security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell
    Affected if The installed security patch level predates the fix for CVE-2020-0249 (the vulnerability was patched in Android's November 2020 security bulletin)

A device is affected if it runs Android 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 with Instant Apps enabled and has not received the corresponding security patch.

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 Android security patches from the device manufacturer. This is a platform-level vulnerability requiring a system update rather than application-level remediation.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,100
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-0249 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