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CVE Record

CVE-2020-27211: Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 devices through 2020-10-19 have improper protection against physical side cha...

Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 devices through 2020-10-19 have improper protection against physical side channels. The flash read-out protection (APPROTECT) can be bypassed by injecting a fault during the boot phase.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This issue means physical access to some Nordic nRF52840-based devices could allow bypass of flash read-out protection and recovery of protected firmware or data. It is mainly a hardware/embedded-device exposure, not a remote internet vulnerability. Business urgency depends on whether deployed devices store valuable firmware, credentials, or customer-sensitive secrets in flash.

Executive priority

Prioritize this for products where device capture could expose firmware IP, cryptographic material, or customer-impacting secrets. It is less urgent for systems without physical attacker access or sensitive flash contents, but it should be tracked as a hardware security design risk.

Technical view

CVE-2020-27211 describes an APPROTECT bypass on Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 devices through 2020-10-19 using fault injection during boot. The record provides no CVSS, CWE, CPE, or complete version mapping. Sources indicate a physical side-channel/fault-injection class issue affecting flash read-out protection, with remediation details needing vendor confirmation.

Likely exposure

Organizations are exposed if they build, sell, manage, or rely on products containing nRF52840 devices, especially where physical attackers can obtain hardware and where internal flash contains firmware IP, keys, credentials, or sensitive configuration.

Exploitation context

The CVE and references describe a physical attack requiring device access and fault injection capability. The provided bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation in the wild. Treat public research as proof that the protection model can fail under physical attack conditions.

Researcher notes

The public CVE data is sparse: no CVSS, CWE, CPE, or definitive fix is included in the bundle. Analysis should distinguish nRF52840 exposure from other nRF52 devices unless separately sourced. Do not infer active exploitation or universal product impact from the cited research alone.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory products and boards that use Nordic nRF52840 components.
  • Check Nordic guidance, including the referenced information note, for supported remediation or replacement direction.
  • Avoid relying on APPROTECT alone to protect high-value secrets in deployed hardware.
  • Reduce opportunities for attackers to obtain unattended, returned, or decommissioned devices.
  • Rotate credentials or keys stored on devices after loss, theft, or untrusted return.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm whether each product uses nRF52840 hardware covered by the CVE date range.
  • Verify what firmware, keys, credentials, or sensitive configuration are stored in flash.
  • Review whether APPROTECT is enabled and documented in the product security model.
  • Check vendor advisories and hardware revision notes for official applicability statements.
  • Assess physical access risk across field deployments, labs, returns, and supply chain handling.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
6

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

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CVE-2020-27211 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
6Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/an/an/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.