CVE-2020-0491
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 readBlock of MatroskaExtractor.cpp, there is a possible denial of service due to resource exhaustion. This could lead to remote denial of service with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-11Android ID: A-156819528
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 confidenceThis is a denial of service vulnerability in Android's MatroskaExtractor component. The readBlock function in MatroskaExtractor.cpp fails to properly limit resource consumption when processing Matroska (MKV) media files. A remote attacker can craft a malicious MKV file that, when opened by a user, causes resource exhaustion leading to device denial of service. The vulnerability requires user interaction (opening the file) but needs no additional execution privileges.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if The device is running Android 11.0 exactly (API level 30)
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Verify MatroskaExtractor component existsCheck for the presence of libmediaplayerservice.so or MatroskaExtractor in /system/lib/ or /system/lib64/ directories via ADB shell with 'find /system -name '*Matroska*''Affected if The MatroskaExtractor component is present on the device (required for the vulnerability to apply)
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Confirm MKV file handling capabilityCheck if the device can process MKV files by looking for MKV MIME type support in /system/etc/permissions or by attempting to identify a media player that handles video/mp4 or video/x-matroskaAffected if The device has applications or components capable of opening/processing MKV media files (this enables the attack surface)
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Identify vulnerable media pathsReview installed media applications and verify they use the Android MediaExtractor API for MKV playback by checking app permissions or testing with a benign MKV fileAffected if Any app on the device can invoke the MatroskaExtractor to process MKV files, creating a path to trigger the vulnerability
The device is affected if it runs Android 11.0 and has the MatroskaExtractor component available for processing MKV media files, which allows a malicious MKV file opened by any user-facing app to trigger resource exhaustion.
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 system update for Android-11 that includes the patch for A-156819528. Users should avoid opening or playing Matroska/MKV files from untrusted sources until the patch is applied.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-0491 — 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-2020-0491 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
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