CVE-2025-20989
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 · uneditedImproper logging in fingerprint trustlet prior to SMR May-2025 Release 1 allows local privileged attackers to get a hmac_key.
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 confidenceImproper logging in Samsung's fingerprint trustlet (a Trusted Execution Environment component) prior to the May-2025 SMR allows a local privileged attacker to obtain the hmac_key through log files. The hmac_key is used for fingerprint template integrity verification, so its exposure could enable authentication bypass.
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
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L
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 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 and the SMR is prior to May-2025
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Check Samsung SMR dateGo to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Build number (tap multiple times for build info), or run 'getprop ro.build.version.sepolicy' or check Samsung's SMR release notes for the device modelAffected if SMR (Samsung Monthly Release) is dated before May-2025
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Inspect log files for hmac_keySearch system and kernel logs for the string 'hmac_key' or 'hmac' using 'logcat -d | grep -i hmac' or check /data/log/ or /sys/kernel/debug/ directories via ADB shell with root accessAffected if Log files contain the hmac_key value in plaintext
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Verify fingerprint enrollment existsCheck if any fingerprints are enrolled in Settings > Security > Fingerprint, or run 'fingerprints' or check /data/system_de/0/fpdata/ via ADBAffected if Fingerprint authentication is enabled and templates exist on the device
A device is affected if it runs Android 13.0, 14.0, or 15.0 with an SMR prior to May-2025 and has log entries containing the hmac_key, exposing fingerprint template integrity to privileged local attackers.
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 Samsung SMR May-2025 Release 1 or later which contains the patched fingerprint trustlet that removes the insecure logging of the hmac_key.
SMR May-2025 Release 1 (May 2025 Android Security Patch Level)
- 1. Open Settings on your Samsung Android device
- 2. Navigate to Software update (or Security and privacy > Software update)
- 3. Tap Check for updates to see if May 2025 security update is available
- 4. If available, download and install the SMR May-2025 Release 1 update
- 5. Restart your device after the update completes
- 6. Verify the update was applied by going to Settings > About phone > Software information and confirming the security patch level is May 2025 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20989 — 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-2025-20989 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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