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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2020-10840

HIGH · 7.1 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 →
73/100
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
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with P(9.0) and Q(10.0) (Exynos 9610 chipsets) software. There is a kernel pointer leak in the vipx driver. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-16293 (February 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 · high confidence

A kernel pointer leak vulnerability exists in the vipx driver on Samsung mobile devices running Android P (9.0) and Q (10.0) on Exynos 9610 chipsets. The vulnerability exposes kernel memory addresses to user-space processes, which can be leveraged to defeat kernel address space layout randomization (KASLR) and enable more severe privilege escalation exploits.

MitigationApply the Samsung security update SVE-2019-16293 (February 2020) which contains the fix for this vulnerability. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest Samsung-provided security patch level.

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:= 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
High

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

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

  1. Verify Android version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in a terminal or check Settings > About Phone > Android version
    Affected if Version reports 9.0 or 10.0
  2. Confirm Exynos 9610 chipset
    Run 'getprop ro.hardware' or inspect /proc/cpuinfo for 'Exynos 9610' or '9610' identifier
    Affected if Chipset is Exynos 9610
  3. Check security patch level
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' to retrieve the security update date
    Affected if Patch level is before 2020-02-01 or shows an older date
  4. Confirm vipx driver presence
    Run 'lsmod | grep vipx' or check /proc/modules for the vipx kernel module
    Affected if The vipx driver is loaded or present on the device

A device is affected if it runs Android 9.0 or 10.0 on an Exynos 9610 chipset, has a pre-February 2020 security patch level, and has the vipx driver loaded.

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 SVE-2019-16293 (February 2020) which contains the fix for this vulnerability. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest Samsung-provided security patch level.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,970
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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-2020-10840 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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