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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2021-22492

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0) (Broadcom Bluetooth chipsets) software. The Bluetooth UART driver has a buffer overflow. The Samsung ID is SVE-2020-18731 (January 2021).

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

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Bluetooth UART driver for Broadcom chipsets on Samsung mobile devices running Android O (8.x), P (9.0), and Q (10.0). This memory corruption flaw could potentially allow remote code execution or denial of service via malformed Bluetooth communications.

MitigationApply the Samsung security update (SVE-2020-18731, January 2021) to all affected devices. Organizations should identify and patch vulnerable Samsung devices running the specified Android versions.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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 checks

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

  1. Identify the device manufacturer
    Check Settings > About Phone > Manufacturer or Model. Samsung devices are affected.
    Affected if The device is not manufactured by Samsung, the vulnerability does not apply.
  2. Confirm the Android version
    Check Settings > About Phone > Android version. Affected versions are 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, and 10.0.
    Affected if The Android version matches 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0, the device falls within the affected version range.
  3. Verify the Bluetooth chipset
    Check device specifications or system information for the Bluetooth/WLAN chipset. Affected devices use Broadcom chipsets.
    Affected if The device contains a Broadcom Bluetooth chipset, the vulnerable driver component is present.
  4. Confirm Bluetooth is enabled
    Check Settings > Bluetooth to verify Bluetooth is turned on.
    Affected if Bluetooth is enabled, the attack surface is active.

A Samsung mobile device running Android 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 with a Broadcom Bluetooth chipset and Bluetooth enabled is affected by this vulnerability.

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-2020-18731, January 2021) to all affected devices. Organizations should identify and patch vulnerable Samsung devices running the specified Android versions.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation10.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,620
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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-2021-22492 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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