CVE-2021-22488
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 · uneditedThere is an Unauthorized file access vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability by modifying soft links may tamper with the files restored from backups.
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 an unauthorized file access vulnerability in Huawei smartphones where attackers can modify symbolic links (soft links) to tamper with files during the backup restoration process. The vulnerability allows manipulation of files that are being restored from backups through improper validation of soft link paths.
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= 10.1.1= 11.0.0= 3.1.1= 4.0.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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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Check EMUI versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version on Huawei device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' via ADBAffected if Version is exactly 10.1.1 or 11.0.0
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Check Magic UI versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version on Honor device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.magic' via ADBAffected if Version is exactly 3.1.1 or 4.0.0
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Identify backup restoration usageReview device usage for backup restore operations - check if backup restore from external or untrusted sources has been performedAffected if Backup restoration from untrusted sources has been performed on an affected version
Device is affected if running exactly EMUI 10.1.1, EMUI 11.0.0, Magic UI 3.1.1, or Magic UI 4.0.0 and has used the backup restoration feature.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the vendor-supplied security patch for CVE-2021-22488. Until the patch is available, avoid restoring from untrusted backup sources and verify backup integrity before restoration.
Latest EMUI/Magic UI security update (verify CVE-2021-22488 is listed in the security patch notes)
- Check for system updates on the Huawei device by going to Settings > System & Updates > Software Update
- Install the latest EMUI or Magic UI security patch that includes the fix for CVE-2021-22488
- After updating, verify the security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Version to confirm the vulnerability is addressed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $4,928.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22488 — 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-2021-22488 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