CVE-2020-10850
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0) (Exynos chipsets) software. The secure bootloade has a buffer overflow of the USB buffer, leading to arbitrary code execution. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-15872 (January 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 confidenceA buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the secure bootloader of Samsung mobile devices running Android O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0) on Exynos chipsets. The overflow occurs in the USB buffer handling during the boot process, allowing an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution at the bootloader level before the operating system loads.
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= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0= 10.0CVSS 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
- 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
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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Verify Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADBAffected if Version is 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 exactly (not 8.x as a range, but the specific versions listed)
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Confirm Exynos chipsetCheck device specifications via Settings > About Phone > Chipset, or run 'getprop ro.hardware' via ADBAffected if Device uses an Exynos processor (common identifiers include exynos, samsung-exynos in the hardware property)
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Confirm device is SamsungCheck manufacturer via Settings > About Phone > Brand, or run 'getprop ro.product.manufacturer' via ADBAffected if Manufacturer is Samsung (the vulnerability applies to Samsung devices specifically)
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Check Samsung firmware patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Build number, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.sepolicy' or check Samsung security patch level via Settings > Security > Security updateAffected if Firmware is older than the January 2020 Samsung update (SVE-2019-15872); patch level shows a date before 2020-01 or the specific SVE-2019-15872 fix is not present
The device is affected if it is a Samsung device with an Exynos chipset running Android 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 and the Samsung firmware update SVE-2019-15872 has not been applied.
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 Samsung firmware update (SVE-2019-15872) released January 2020 to affected devices. Organizations should inventory Exynos-based Samsung devices on Android 8.x-10.0 and prioritize patching given the critical severity and pre-boot execution context.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-10850 — 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-2020-10850 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
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