CVE-2026-20998
Published: 16 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-20998 is a high-severity an unspecified weakness vulnerability in Samsung Smart Switch. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 41.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-8 (Identification and Authentication (Non-organizational Users)).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-20998 is an improper authentication vulnerability in Samsung Smart Switch prior to version 3.7.69.15. Published on 2026-03-16, the flaw enables remote attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms, as detailed in the NVD with CWE classified as noinfo.
The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating it is exploitable over the network with low attack complexity, no required privileges or user interaction, and no change in scope. Remote attackers can thus achieve high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability by bypassing authentication.
Samsung's security advisory at https://security.samsungmobile.com/serviceWeb.smsb?year=2026&month=03 provides additional details on the issue. Mitigation requires updating Smart Switch to version 3.7.69.15 or later.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-12313
Vulnerability details
Improper authentication in Smart Switch prior to version 3.7.69.15 allows remote attackers to bypass authentication.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The vulnerability is an improper authentication bypass in a network-accessible service (Samsung Smart Switch), directly enabling exploitation of a public-facing application for initial access with high impact.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires timely identification, reporting, and correction of flaws like the improper authentication bypass in Smart Switch, directly enabling patching to version 3.7.69.15.
Enforces approved authorizations for access to system resources, preventing remote attackers from bypassing authentication mechanisms.
Mandates identification and authentication for non-organizational users such as remote attackers, directly countering the authentication bypass vulnerability.