CVE-2020-12856

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This critical-severity CVE scores 9.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 5.1% (92nd percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
Elevated
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan mitigationSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 5.1%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Elevated riskExposed services: Not assessed

No fix is confirmed yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for the fix.

OpenTrace, as used in COVIDSafe through v1.0.17, TraceTogether, ABTraceTogether, and other applications on iOS and Android, allows remote attackers to conduct long-term re-identification attacks and possibly have unspecified other impact, because of how Bluetooth is used.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
65
EG Risk 65/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
Action: No fix is confirmed yet. Restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high, and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.
EPSS PROB
5.1%
EPSS %ILE
92nd
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.

No fix is confirmed yet. Restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high, and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.

Exploitation public PoC (EG-KEV: elevated) · Automatable unknown (not published for this CVE) · Technical impact total (CVSS ≥ 9.0). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

May 18, 2020

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Oct 4, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. No fix on record yet.
generic🟡 PoC Available

COVIDSafe-CVE-2020-12856/README.md at master · alwentiu/COVIDSafe-CVE-2020-12856 · GitHub

https://github.com/alwentiu/COVIDSafe-CVE-2020-12856/blob/master/README.md
generic

COVIDSafe Android App - BLE Privacy Issues - Google Docs

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u5a5ersKBH6eG362atALrzuXo3zuZ70qrGomWVEC27U/edit?usp=sharing

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 22× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 150 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-10-05 17:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-04 23:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-10-03 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-30 14:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-30 10:33 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-26 15:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-26 00:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-24 13:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-22 14:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-09-21 20:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-19 15:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-09-16 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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  17. 2026-09-15 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-09-11 14:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-09-11 09:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-09-07 15:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-09-05 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-09-04 05:03 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-09-02 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-01 03:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-30 19:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-30 01:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-28 21:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-27 14:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-26 14:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-25 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-20 22:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-18 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-17 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-16 14:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-16 02:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-08-13 21:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-12 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-08 16:33 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-07 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-08-06 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-05 19:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-04 15:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-04 10:34 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-03 10:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-08-01 04:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-07-25 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-07-23 01:49 UTCEG score recompute
  35. 2026-07-22 22:33 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-06-28 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  73. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCalwentiu/COVIDSafe-CVE-2020-12856
    First seen May 15, 2020

    A bluetooth-related vulnerability in some contact tracing apps

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2020-12856?
CVE-2020-12856 is a critical vulnerability published on May 18, 2020. OpenTrace, as used in COVIDSafe through v1.0.17, TraceTogether, ABTraceTogether, and other applications on iOS and Android, allows remote attackers to conduct long-term re-identification attacks and possibly have unspecified other impact, because of how Bluetooth is used.
When was CVE-2020-12856 disclosed?
CVE-2020-12856 was first published on May 18, 2020, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-12856 actively exploited?
CVE-2020-12856 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 5.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (92nd percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-12856?
CVE-2020-12856 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2020-12856?
No fix for CVE-2020-12856 is confirmed yet. Until one is published, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation — for example, keep it off the internet or limit it to trusted networks — and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.

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