CVE-2020-0271
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 · uneditedIn the Settings app, there is an insecure default value. This could lead to local escalation of privilege and tapjacking with User execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-11Android ID: A-144507081
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 confidenceIn the Android Settings app on Android-11, an insecure default value allows local privilege escalation when combined with tapjacking. User interaction is required to trigger the attack, where a malicious app can overlay the Settings app to intercept user taps and perform privileged actions.
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= 11.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Check Android version is 11.0Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if Version shows exactly 11.0 (the affected version per '=' notation)
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Identify apps with overlay permissionGo to Settings > Apps > Special app access > Display over other apps. Review the list for any untrusted or suspicious applications granted this permissionAffected if Any non-system, untrusted app has 'Display over other apps' permission enabled, enabling the tapjacking attack vector
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Check for unknown overlay windowsRun 'dumpsys window windows' via ADB shell and look for windows with TYPE_APPLICATION_OVERLAY flag from untrusted appsAffected if Windows with overlay permissions are visible from apps not in the systemtrusted installer list
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Review recently installed apps with dangerous permissionsCheck Settings > Apps > See all apps, filtering by 'Recently installed', and verify no malicious apps have both SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW and PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS permissionsAffected if A recently installed untrusted app holds both overlay and usage stats permissions simultaneously
A user is affected if running Android 11.0 and any untrusted app has been granted overlay (tapjacking) permissions that can intercept taps within the Settings app.
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 dataApply the Android 11 security patch level. For custom implementations, identify and secure the default value in the Settings app that enables this privilege escalation vector.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,144.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-0271 — 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-2020-0271 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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- 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