CVE-2020-12857
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 · uneditedCaching of GATT characteristic values (TempID) in COVIDSafe v1.0.15 and v1.0.16 allows a remote attacker to long-term re-identify an Android device running COVIDSafe.
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 confidenceThe COVIDSafe Android app (v1.0.15 and v1.0.16) improperly caches GATT characteristic TempID values received via Bluetooth LE, allowing a remote attacker performing long-term Bluetooth surveillance to correlate cached identifiers and persistently re-identify a specific device. This breaks the intended privacy model of rotating temporary identifiers in contact tracing protocols.
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< 1.0.17CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if COVIDSafe app is installedOpen device Settings > Apps > Apps, or run 'pm list packages | grep covid' via ADB shell to verify the COVIDSafe application is present on the deviceAffected if The app must be installed for this CVE to apply; if not installed, the device is not affected by this specific mobile app vulnerability
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Determine the installed COVIDSafe versionNavigate to Settings > Apps > COVIDSafe > App info, or run 'dumpsys package au.gov.health.covidsafe' via ADB shell to retrieve the versionName and versionCodeAffected if A numeric version number will be displayed; note this version for comparison against affected ranges
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Compare version against affected rangeReview the versionName from step 2; the affected versions are 1.0.15 and 1.0.16 specificallyAffected if If the version is exactly 1.0.15 or 1.0.16, the device is affected by the TempID caching vulnerability; versions below 1.0.15 may have other issues but not this specific CVE; version 1.0.17 and above are not affected
A device is affected only if COVIDSafe app version 1.0.15 or 1.0.16 is installed; version 1.0.17 and later versions include the fix that prevents persistent TempID caching.
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 data1.0.17
Update COVIDSafe to a patched version that implements ephemeral handling of TempID values without persistent caching, ensuring identifiers cannot be correlated across multiple encounters.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-12857 — 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-2020-12857 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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