CVE-2020-9081 [Low] | Security Bypass in Mate 20 Firmware

There is an improper authorization vulnerability in some Huawei smartphones. An attacker could perform a series of operation in specific mode to exploit this vulnerability. Successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass app lock. (Vulnerability ID: HWPSIRT-2019-12144) This vulnerability has been assigned a Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) ID: CVE-2020-9081.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-03-17	0.05%	0.01%	-0.04%
2	2025-01-11	0.04%	0.05%	+0.01%
3	2024-12-28	—	0.04%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-03-17

0.05%

0.01%

-0.04%

2025-01-11

0.04%

0.05%

+0.01%

2024-12-28

—

0.04%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
3.5	3.1	LOW	`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:P) Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:L) Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	0.9	2.5	[email protected]
6.8	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:P) Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	0.9	5.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

3.5

3.1

LOW

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:P): Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L): Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

0.9

2.5

[email protected]

6.8

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:P): Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

0.9

5.9

[email protected]

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-9081

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
huawei	mate_20_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c00e160r3p8\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:mate_20_firmware::::::::
huawei	p30_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c00e160r2p11\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:p30_firmware::::::::
huawei	p30_pro_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c00e160r2p8\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:p30_pro_firmware::::::::
huawei	princeton-al10d_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c00e160r2p11\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:princeton-al10d_firmware::::::::
huawei	yale-al00a_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c00e160r8p12\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:yale-al00a_firmware::::::::
huawei	yale-al50a_firmware	< 10.1.0.88\(c00e88r8p1\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:yale-al50a_firmware::::::::
huawei	yalep-al10b_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c00e160r8p12\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:yalep-al10b_firmware::::::::
huawei	mate_20_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c01e160r2p8\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:mate_20_firmware::::::::
huawei	p30_pro_firmware	< 10.1.0.160\(c01e160r2p8\)	cpe:2.3:o:huawei:p30_pro_firmware::::::::

References for CVE-2020-9081

URL	Tags
https://www.huawei.com/en/psirt/security-advisories/2020/huawei-sa-20200826-15-smartphone-en	Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2020-9081

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-9081

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-9081

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-9081

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-9081

References for CVE-2020-9081