CVE-2019-20568 in Qualcomm
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x) and P(9.0) devices (Exynos and Qualcomm chipsets) software. A race condition causes a Use-After-Free. The Samsung ID is SVE-2019-15067 (September 2019).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/04/2020
This vulnerability represents a critical race condition flaw affecting Samsung mobile devices running Android 8.0 and 9.0 operating systems across both Exynos and Qualcomm chipsets. The issue manifests as a Use-After-Free condition that occurs during specific system operations, creating a potential security exploitation vector for malicious actors. The vulnerability was identified and tracked by Samsung under the internal identifier SVE-2019-15067, highlighting the severity of the race condition that impacts the device's memory management processes. This type of flaw typically arises when multiple threads or processes access shared resources without proper synchronization mechanisms, leading to unpredictable behavior and potential privilege escalation opportunities.
The technical implementation of this race condition involves timing-sensitive operations where memory allocated to system processes becomes freed while still being referenced by other concurrent operations. When the system attempts to access this freed memory location, it results in a Use-After-Free condition that can be exploited to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The vulnerability affects the kernel-level memory management subsystem and specifically targets the interaction between different system components during resource allocation and deallocation cycles. This flaw demonstrates a failure in proper concurrency control mechanisms and memory lifecycle management within the Android kernel implementation on Samsung devices.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant security risks for affected Samsung devices, potentially allowing attackers to gain root-level access to the device. The exploitation of such a race condition could enable malicious actors to bypass security controls, install persistent backdoors, or extract sensitive user data from the device. The vulnerability affects a substantial number of Samsung devices due to the widespread adoption of Android 8.0 and 9.0 across their product line, making it a particularly concerning issue for enterprise and individual users alike. The race condition nature of the flaw means that successful exploitation requires precise timing and may not be consistently reproducible, but once achieved, the impact remains severe.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate software updates from Samsung, which typically include kernel patches addressing the specific race condition in memory management. System administrators and users should prioritize applying security patches as soon as they become available through official Samsung update channels or through the Android security update process. Additional protective measures include implementing network-based monitoring to detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts, and maintaining comprehensive device management policies that enforce regular security updates. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which specifically addresses race conditions in concurrent programming, and falls under ATT&CK technique T1068, which covers exploit for privilege escalation. Organizations should also consider implementing device hardening measures and regular security assessments to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities in their mobile device fleets.