CVE-2016-1919 Samsung CVE debrief

Who should care

Organizations and users operating Samsung devices or environments that still rely on KNOX 1.0 for data protection. Security teams should care most where local user access is possible or where sensitive data is stored under eCryptFS protection.

Technical summary

The NVD entry classifies the flaw as a weak key-generation problem (CWE-310, CWE-200). The published description states that a local user could leverage knowledge of the TIMA key together with brute-force techniques to obtain sensitive information protected by eCryptFS. NVD lists the affected product as Samsung KNOX through version 1.0 and assigns CVSS 3.0 vector AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

Defensive priority

Medium. The issue is locally exploitable and primarily affects confidentiality, but it can expose sensitive data if affected devices are present and local access is available.

Recommended defensive actions

• Identify Samsung KNOX 1.0 deployments and confirm whether affected devices remain in service.
• Review Samsung and NVD guidance for remediation or upgrading away from KNOX 1.0 where possible.
• Restrict local access on affected devices and harden administrative controls around endpoints handling sensitive data.
• Treat data protected by affected eCryptFS deployments as potentially exposed if the device is known to be vulnerable.
• Monitor vendor and platform advisories for any additional remediation details not present in the current corpus.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based on the official NVD record for CVE-2016-1919, which lists the vulnerability status as Modified, the affected CPE range as Samsung KNOX through version 1.0, and the CVSS 3.0 vector AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N. The corpus also includes MITRE-referenced third-party advisories and source references, but no fixed-version or vendor patch details are provided here.

Official resources