# CVE-2016-1920: Samsung KNOX shared certificate man-in-the-middle vulnerability

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2016-1920-samsung-knox-shared-certificate-man-in-the-middle-vulnerability  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2017-01-27. Updated: 2026-05-13  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2016-1920 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2017-01-27

Samsung KNOX is a security framework designed to provide a secure environment for mobile devices. A vulnerability in version 1.0.0 allows a local user to intercept and modify encrypted traffic by exploiting how the system handles security certificates. This could allow an attacker to perform man-in-the-middle attacks, potentially compromising the integrity of data transmitted by the device.

Technologies: [Samsung Knox](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/knox). Vendors: [Samsung](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/samsung).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2016-1920 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2016-1920 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2016-1920?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.5, published 27 January 2017.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Samsung KNOX 1.0.0.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2016-1920?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2016-1920 attacked?** It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.

**Am I affected by CVE-2016-1920?** Check whether you run Samsung Knox. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

Samsung KNOX 1.0.0 suffers from an improper access control vulnerability (CWE-284) due to the use of a shared certificate store on the Android platform. A local attacker can exploit this by installing a malicious certificate and initiating a VPN service to intercept traffic. This configuration allows for man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks against the secure container. The attack requires user interaction to install the certificate but can result in a high impact on data integrity. This issue is specific to the early implementation of the KNOX framework on Android.

## Affected products

- Samsung KNOX 1.0.0

## Timeline

- 2017-01-27: disclosed: NVD publication date

## References

- [http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/537318/100/0/threaded](http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/537318/100/0/threaded)
- [http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/537339/100/0/threaded](http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/537339/100/0/threaded)

## Related threats

- [Samsung KNOX information disclosure in ClipboardDataMgr](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2016-3996-samsung-knox-information-disclosure-in-clipboarddatamgr)
- [Samsung KNOX weak eCryptFS key generation in KNOX 1.0](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2016-1919-samsung-knox-weak-ecryptfs-key-generation-in-knox-1-0)