CVE-2025-20988
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 · uneditedOut-of-bounds read in fingerprint trustlet prior to SMR May-2025 Release 1 allows local privileged attackers to read out-of-bounds memory.
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 confidenceAn out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in Samsung's fingerprint trustlet (a Trusted Execution Environment component handling biometric authentication). The flaw allows local privileged attackers to read memory outside intended bounds, potentially exposing sensitive biometric data or other memory contents.
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= 13.0= 14.0= 15.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Check Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADBAffected if Version is 13.0, 14.0, or 15.0 exactly
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Check Samsung Security Patch LevelGo to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADBAffected if Patch level is earlier than May-2025 (SMR May-2025 Release 1)
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Verify fingerprint enrollment statusGo to Settings > Security and biometrics > Fingerprint, or check 'pm list features' for android.hardware.fingerprintAffected if Fingerprint is enrolled and the fingerprint sensor/feature is available on the device
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Confirm device is SamsungCheck 'getprop ro.product.brand' returns 'samsung'Affected if Device is not a Samsung Galaxy device (this vulnerability affects Samsung-specific trustlet)
Device is affected if it is a Samsung Galaxy running Android 13.0, 14.0, or 15.0 with fingerprint enrolled, and the Security Patch Level is earlier than May-2025.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the SMR May-2025 Release 1 (or later) security update to patch the vulnerable fingerprint trustlet. This is a firmware-level fix requiring system software update.
SMR May-2025 Release 1 (Android Security Patch Level May 2025)
- Navigate to Settings > Security & privacy > Security update on the Samsung device
- Check the current Android security patch level
- If the device has not received the May-2025 security update, select 'Check for updates' or 'Download updates manually'
- Install the SMR May-2025 Release 1 security update containing the fingerprint trustlet fix
- After installation, verify the security patch level shows May-2025 or later in Settings > About phone > Software information > Security patch level
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $2,464.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20988 — 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-2025-20988 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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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.
- 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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