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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2020-35549

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-12-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
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 O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0) software. Any application may establish itself as the default dialer, without user interaction. The Samsung ID is SVE-2020-19172 (December 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

On Samsung mobile devices running Android O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0), any application can register itself as the default dialer without requiring user interaction or consent. This allows a malicious application to intercept outgoing calls, access call logs, and potentially eavesdrop on communications by becoming the system-default phone handler.

MitigationApply the Samsung security patch released December 2020 (SVE-2020-19172) to affected devices. Organizations should inventory affected Samsung devices and deploy the update through their mobile device management (MDM) systems.

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:= 8.0= 8.1= 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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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. Confirm device is Samsung
    Check device settings or run 'adb shell getprop ro.product.brand' to verify the manufacturer is Samsung
    Affected if Device is not Samsung - this vulnerability only affects Samsung mobile devices
  2. Check Android version
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Android version or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if Version is 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 - these are the affected Android versions per the CVE
  3. Verify security patch level
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if Patch level is before 2020-12 - devices without the December 2020 Samsung security update remain vulnerable

A Samsung device running Android 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 with a security patch level before December 2020 is affected.

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 patch released December 2020 (SVE-2020-19172) to affected devices. Organizations should inventory affected Samsung devices and deploy the update through their mobile device management (MDM) systems.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2020-35549 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