AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2020-10833

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with Q(10.0) software. The DeX Lockscreen allows attackers to access the quick panel and notifications. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-16532 (March 2020).

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

This is a lockscreen bypass vulnerability in Samsung DeX (Desktop Experience) mode on Android Q (10.0) devices. Attackers can access the quick panel and notifications without authentication, bypassing the lockscreen protection that should prevent unauthorized access.

MitigationApply the Samsung security update from March 2020 or later, which contains the fix for SVE-2019-16532. Ensure all affected Samsung devices are patched through normal OS/firmware update mechanisms.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Verify Android version is 10.0
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if Android version equals 10.0 (Android Q)
  2. Confirm Samsung DeX is available on the device
    Check if DeX mode is present on the device - look for DeX app in app drawer, or run 'adb shell pm list packages | grep dex'
    Affected if Samsung DeX is installed and available on the device
  3. Check the installed security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if Security patch level is earlier than 2020-03-01 (before the March 2020 Samsung security update)
  4. Test lockscreen persistence on DeX entry
    While device is locked, connect to external display or enter DeX mode and observe if quick panel or notifications are accessible without unlocking
    Affected if Quick panel or notifications are accessible without entering PIN/pattern/password

A device is affected if it runs Android 10.0 with Samsung DeX available and has a security patch level earlier than March 2020.

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 Samsung security update from March 2020 or later, which contains the fix for SVE-2019-16532. Ensure all affected Samsung devices are patched through normal OS/firmware update mechanisms.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-10833 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-10833 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