CVE-2019-20541

Vulnerability

An issue was discovered in Samsung mobile devices running Android P (9.0) with Exynos chipsets, where the Wi-Fi kernel drivers contain a stack overflow vulnerability [1]. This affects software versions on those devices. The Samsung reference IDs include SVE-2019-14965, SVE-2019-14966, SVE-2019-14968, SVE-2019-14969, SVE-2019-14970, SVE-2019-14980, SVE-2019-14981, SVE-2019-14982, SVE-2019-14983, SVE-2019-14984, SVE-2019-15122, SVE-2019-15123 [1].

Exploitation

An attacker requires the ability to send crafted Wi-Fi frames or interact with the Wi-Fi subsystem to trigger a stack overflow in the kernel drivers. This could be exploited from within wireless range without authentication, possibly through a malicious access point or nearby device. The technical details of the exploitation sequence are not disclosed in the available references beyond the description of a stack overflow [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the kernel context or a denial of service (system crash) due to memory corruption. The attacker may gain elevated privileges (kernel-level access), affecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the device. The exact impact is not further detailed in the references, but stack overflows in kernel drivers typically allow compromise of the entire system [1].

Mitigation

Samsung has addressed these vulnerabilities through security updates. Users should install the latest firmware from Samsung's security update channel (security.samsungmobile.com) [1]. No specific patch date is given in the references, but the vulnerabilities were reported in November 2019, and the CVE was published in March 2020. Applying all available updates is the recommended mitigation.