dbcve.org
FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2020-0452

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-11-10
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 exif_entry_get_value of exif-entry.c, there is a possible out of bounds write due to an integer overflow. This could lead to remote code execution if a third party app used this library to process remote image data with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-8.1 Android-9 Android-10 Android-11 Android-8.0Android ID: A-159625731

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-190

An arithmetic operation produces a value too large for its type and wraps around to an unexpected — often tiny or negative — number. That miscalculated value then drives a memory allocation or a bounds check, opening the door to corruption. The fix is checked arithmetic and validating sizes before they're used.

General guidance for the integer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 32= 33
AndroidOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0= 10.0= 11.0

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

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch source.android.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Fedora: Update to Fedora 34 or later which contains the fixed libexif package; Android: Update to Android 11 (API level 30) or ensure November 2020 security patch level is applied

  1. For Fedora systems: Run 'sudo dnf update libexif' to obtain the patched package containing the CVE-2020-0452 fix
  2. Verify the installed version includes the fix by running 'rpm -q libexif' and checking against Fedora security advisories
  3. For Android devices: Ensure the November 2020 security patch level (2020-11-01) or later is installed via system updates
  4. Third-party applications using libexif should be rebuilt against the updated library version
  5. Restart any services or applications that link against libexif to ensure the patched library is loaded
Caveat Updating libexif may cause minor compatibility issues with applications relying on specific exif parsing behavior; ensure testing is performed on non-production systems first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can apply and verify the patch for your build — typical engagement from $3,550. Get the patch applied

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-0452 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2020-0452 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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