AndroidOperating system · Samsung

CVE-2024-20859

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-07
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
Improper access control vulnerability in FactoryCamera prior to SMR May-2024 Release 1 allows local attackers to take pictures without privilege.

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

Improper access control vulnerability in Samsung's FactoryCamera application allows local attackers with physical device access to capture photos without required privileges. The vulnerability exists due to missing authorization checks in the factory camera module prior to the May-2024 security update.

MitigationApply Samsung's SMR May-2024 Release 1 or later security update to patch the FactoryCamera application and enforce proper privilege validation for camera capture operations.

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:= 12.0= 13.0= 14.0

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
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

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

  1. Verify security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' and check if the date is May 2024 or later (2024-05-01 or newer)
    Affected if The patch level is earlier than May 2024 or the field is empty/unavailable
  2. Check Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if The Android version is 12.0, 13.0, or 14.0 (or displays those numbers)
  3. Identify FactoryCamera application
    Run 'adb shell pm list packages | grep -i factory' or check app list in Settings > Apps for 'FactoryCamera' or 'Samsung FactoryCamera'
    Affected if The FactoryCamera package exists on the device (package name typically contains 'factorycamera')

The device is affected if it runs Android 12, 13, or 14 AND has a security patch level earlier than May 2024, regardless of whether the FactoryCamera app is visible or appears functional.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Samsung's SMR May-2024 Release 1 or later security update to patch the FactoryCamera application and enforce proper privilege validation for camera capture operations.

Recommended fix High confidence

SMR May-2024 Release 1

  1. Check for system updates on the Samsung device
  2. Navigate to Settings > Software update > Download and install
  3. Apply the SMR May-2024 Release 1 security update which contains the fix for CVE-2024-20859
  4. Verify the update was successfully installed

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
3.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2024-20859 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
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