CVE-2021-37064
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 a Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may lead to arbitrary file created.
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 confidenceA path traversal vulnerability in Huawei smartphones allows attackers to manipulate file paths using '..' sequences to write files outside restricted directories. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary file creation on the device, which could lead to remote code execution or privilege escalation.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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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Confirm HarmonyOS is installedGo to Settings > About Phone on the Huawei device and verify the OS listed is HarmonyOS rather than Android or EMUIAffected if The device does not run HarmonyOS, this specific vulnerability does not apply
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Check HarmonyOS version numberIn Settings > About Phone > Version, note the displayed version number. Compare it against the affected range of versions less than 2.0Affected if The installed HarmonyOS version is 2.0 or higher, the path traversal flaw is not present in those versions
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Verify if file-sharing services are activeCheck Settings > Huawei Share (or Files > Share) to see if file-sharing or Huawei Share functionality is turned onAffected if File-sharing services are disabled, the exploitation pathway is not available
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Check USB debugging or developer options statusGo to Settings > Developer Options and verify if USB Debugging is enabled, or check if Developer Mode is activeAffected if Developer options and USB debugging are disabled, the attack surface is significantly reduced
A Huawei device running HarmonyOS version below 2.0 with file-sharing or developer options enabled is affected by this path traversal vulnerability.
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 · scoped2.0
Apply vendor-supplied security updates for Huawei smartphones; until patched, avoid installing applications from untrusted sources and disable file-sharing services when not needed.
HarmonyOS 2.0 or later
- Check current HarmonyOS version on the device through Settings > About Phone
- Confirm the device is running a version less than 2.0
- Backup critical data before performing any system update
- Update the device to HarmonyOS 2.0 or later through Settings > System & Updates > Software Update
- Verify the update was successful by checking the OS version again
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,776.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-37064 — 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-2021-37064 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
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