Troubleshoot

Last updated October 27th, 2025

This guide provides procedures for troubleshooting issues with Knox Guard, along with the error codes you may encounter.

Abnormal Detection error

As a remote locking solution, Knox Guard is designed to help you enforce device restrictions in cases such as payment delinquency. However, device users may attempt to bypass these restrictions by tampering with or compromising Knox Guard functionality. With the growing adoption of Knox Guard across markets, there has also been a rise in sophisticated hacking attempts aimed at disabling or circumventing the service.

To safeguard the service, Knox Guard has built-in self-diagnostic mechanisms that continuously monitor for any signs of abnormal behavior or integrity violations. When such anomalies are detected, Knox Guard proactively locks the device and displays a specific Abnormal Detection error code.

This guide provides a comprehensive list of such error codes, along with their potential root causes and recommended mitigation steps for support teams and technical operators.

Error codes

The following tables list each Abnormal Detection error code, the scenarios in which it may occur, and guidance on how to respond.

Legacy error codes

The following error codes can occur on all Knox Guard enabled devices. They trigger when a defined anomaly is detected.

Code	Description	How to unlock the device
1001, 1002	A Knox Guard component in the Secure operating system (OS) is damaged.	Flash official binary.
1003, 1004	Secure memory information is manipulated.	Revert Secure memory information to original settings.*
2002, 2003	Lock screen attack.	Reboot and factory reset the device.
2010, 2011, 2012	Device time information is modified on a Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) device.	Connect to a network (Knox Guard server).
3001	Knox Guard client app data is deleted.	Reboot the device.
3010	An invalid version of the Knox Guard client is installed.	Factory reset the device.
3030	Admin authority of Knox Guard client is lost.	Factory reset the device.
4096 - 8191	Client state integrity breach.	Factory reset the device.
11111, 22222, 33333	Invalid ID - Knox Guard identifier is modified.	Revert the modified ID.

*Data corruption occurred in an unrecoverable area, making recovery impossible.

Hardened security architecture error codes

Released in 2026, the following error codes occur only on Knox Guard-enabled devices with enhanced security architecture. This includes the A17 LTE, Samsung Galaxy S26, and all subsequent device releases.

These error codes consist of a 4-digit prefix and a 4-digit suffix.

The prefix (first 4 digits) identifies the detection source:

1000, 1100: Indicates the policy decision point detecting an anomaly.
2000: Indicates the integrity monitoring module detecting an anomaly.

The suffix (last 4 digits) identifies the cause of the error:

Code	Description	How to unlock the device
0x0AXX	Saved policy in memory is invalid.	Reboot the device or connect to a network (Knox Guard server).
0x0BXX - 0x0CXX	Unregulated data is detected during data processing.	Reboot the device or connect to a network (Knox Guard server).
0x0FXX, 0X10XX	Invalid policy information in Secure memory.	Reboot the device or connect to a network (Knox Guard server). Revert Secure memory information to original settings.
0x12XX	Failed to read Secure memory.
0x13XX	Invalid Complete token.
0x15XX	Unauthorized Know Guard state is written in the Secure memory.
0x16XX	Integrity monitoring module detects an anomaly.	Reboot the device or connect to a network (Knox Guard server). Flash official binary.
0x19XX	Key verification failure.	Reboot the device or connect to a network (Knox Guard server).
0x1BXX	Failed to read Secure memory.	Revert Secure memory information to original settings.* Flash official binary.
0xFFXX	A Knox Guard component in the Secure OS is damaged.	Flash official binary.