CVE-2025-20936
8.80.02%
HDCP-wned: Breaking Samsung's TrustZone via Digital Rights Management
Alon Barad
Software EngineerJan 18, 2026·6 min read·3 visits
No Known Exploit
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
Samsung's HDCP Trustlet, responsible for protecting your high-def movies, failed to protect itself. By sending unauthorized commands to the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), a local attacker with shell access can compromise the kernel and gain root privileges. Rated CVSS 8.8.
A critical Improper Access Control vulnerability in Samsung's HDCP Trustlet allows local attackers to bridge the gap between the non-secure world and the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), escalating privileges from shell to root.
Official Patches
Technical Appendix
CVSS Score
8.8/ 10
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HEPSS Probability
0.02%
Top 95% most exploited
Affected Systems
Samsung Mobile Devices running Android 13Samsung Mobile Devices running Android 14Samsung Mobile Devices running Android 15
Affected Versions Detail
| Product | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|
Samsung Mobile Android 13 Samsung | < SMR April-2025 Release 1 | SMR April-2025 Release 1 |
Samsung Mobile Android 14 Samsung | < SMR April-2025 Release 1 | SMR April-2025 Release 1 |
Samsung Mobile Android 15 Samsung | < SMR April-2025 Release 1 | SMR April-2025 Release 1 |
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| CWE ID | CWE-285 |
| Attack Vector | Local (AV:L) |
| CVSS v3.1 | 8.8 (High) |
| Impact | Privilege Escalation (Shell -> Root) |
| Affected Component | HDCP Trustlet (TEE) |
| Exploit Status | No Public PoC |
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
CWE-285
Improper Authorization
The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Vulnerability Timeline
Samsung publishes Security Bulletin (April 2025)
2025-04-08
CVE Published
2025-04-08
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