CVE-2021-22458
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 Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer vulnerability. Local attackers may exploit this vulnerability to cause arbitrary code execution.
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 buffer overflow vulnerability in a component of Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system. The improper restriction of operations within memory buffer bounds allows local attackers to exploit the vulnerability and achieve arbitrary code execution on the affected device.
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 the operating systemCheck if the device is running Huawei HarmonyOS by viewing the system information in Settings or using 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' or similar system property commandsAffected if The device is not running Huawei HarmonyOS (the vulnerability only affects HarmonyOS)
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Determine the HarmonyOS versionCheck the exact HarmonyOS version in Settings under 'About Phone' or by running version lookup commands such as 'getprop ro.build.version.harmonyos' or ' Settings > About Device > HarmonyOS version'Affected if The installed HarmonyOS version is exactly 2.0 (the vulnerability affects only version 2.0)
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Verify the patch levelCheck the security patch level in Settings under 'About Phone > Security patch' or using system information tools to see if security updates addressing CVE-2021-22458 have been appliedAffected if The device is running HarmonyOS 2.0 with a security patch level prior to the fix for CVE-2021-22458
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Assess local access exposureEvaluate whether the device allows installation of apps from untrusted sources or has developer debugging features (USB debugging, ADB) enabled, as the vulnerability requires a local attackerAffected if The device has sideloading of untrusted apps or debugging features enabled without proper controls, increasing the attack surface for local exploitation
The environment is affected if the device runs Huawei HarmonyOS version 2.0 specifically and has not received the vendor security patch for CVE-2021-22458.
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 the vendor-supplied security patch for HarmonyOS immediately. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest patched version of the operating system.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22458 — 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-2021-22458 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