CVE-2019-20538 in Samsung
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with P(9.0) software. There is a heap overflow in the knox_kap driver. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-14857 (November 2019).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/04/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-20538 represents a critical heap overflow condition within the knox_kap driver component of Samsung's Android-based mobile devices running version 9.0 or higher. This flaw exists within the kernel-level security framework that governs Samsung's Knox platform, which provides enterprise-grade security features for corporate mobile device management. The heap overflow occurs when the knox_kap driver processes certain input data structures without proper bounds checking, creating an exploitable condition that could allow malicious actors to manipulate memory allocation patterns and potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the kernel driver responsible for managing Knox application protection features. When the driver receives malformed or oversized data structures through specific ioctl commands, it fails to validate the input boundaries before performing memory operations. This memory corruption vulnerability falls under the CWE-121 heap-based buffer overflow category, where insufficient bounds checking allows attackers to overwrite adjacent memory locations. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the kernel level, providing attackers with direct access to system memory and potentially enabling privilege escalation from user-level processes to kernel-level execution.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple memory corruption, as it presents a significant threat to enterprise security environments that rely heavily on Samsung's Knox platform for mobile device management. Attackers could exploit this heap overflow to gain root-level access to devices, potentially compromising sensitive corporate data, bypassing device encryption, or installing persistent backdoors. The vulnerability affects Samsung devices running Android 9.0 and higher, representing a substantial portion of the enterprise mobile device landscape at the time of discovery. Organizations utilizing Samsung Knox for security management would face critical risks including data breaches, unauthorized access to corporate networks, and potential compromise of the entire mobile device ecosystem.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-20538 should prioritize immediate patch deployment through Samsung's official security updates, as the vulnerability requires kernel-level fixes that cannot be addressed through application-level patches alone. Organizations should implement network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts targeting this specific vulnerability, particularly focusing on unusual ioctl command sequences that might indicate exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1068 privilege escalation techniques, where adversaries leverage kernel-level flaws to gain elevated system privileges. Security teams should also consider implementing device isolation measures for affected systems and conducting comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their mobile device management infrastructure to identify potential secondary impacts from successful exploitation attempts.