CVE-2021-22421
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA component of the HarmonyOS has a Improper Privilege Management vulnerability. Local attackers may exploit this vulnerability to cause further Elevation of Privileges.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Huawei HarmonyOS where improper privilege management in a system component allows a local attacker to gain elevated privileges beyond their current access level. The attacker needs local access to the device and some baseline user privileges to exploit this weakness in the privilege management mechanism.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 2.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify HarmonyOS versionCheck the device settings or system information to confirm the exact HarmonyOS version installed. On HarmonyOS devices, this is typically found under Settings > About Phone > Version, or via the 'getprop' command-line tool if ADB access is available.Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.0 ( HarmonyOS 2.0 )
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Verify local user access existsDetermine if the device has multiple local user accounts or if standard user accounts are configured beyond the primary owner account. Check system user management settings or user list via command line if accessible.Affected if Multiple local user accounts exist or non-owner user accounts are present on the device
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Examine privilege assignment configurationReview the system's privilege management configuration files or settings that control which components and processes can elevate privileges. Look for system components involved in user permission handling.Affected if Privilege management configuration allows standard users to access elevated operations or system components that should be restricted to higher privilege levels
A device is affected if it runs exactly HarmonyOS 2.0, has local user accounts beyond the primary account, and the system's privilege management component permits standard users to perform operations beyond their intended access level.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor-provided security updates for HarmonyOS once available. Restrict physical access to devices and limit local user privileges as a defense-in-depth measure until the patch is deployed.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22421 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-22421 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data