dbcve.org
HarmonyosOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2021-39989

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
The HwNearbyMain module has a Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may cause a process to restart.

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 confidence

The HwNearbyMain module in Huawei devices contains an information disclosure vulnerability that allows unauthorized actors to access sensitive information. Successful exploitation leads to a process restart, indicating a denial-of-service condition triggered by the disclosure. The exact attack vector and exposed data are not specified in the available description.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware updates for affected Huawei devices once released. Restrict network access to vulnerable services and monitor for anomalous process behavior.

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
HarmonyosOperating system
Affected:< 2.0

CVSS 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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm HarmonyOS is the installed operating system
    Check the device system information or settings to identify the OS. On Huawei devices, this is typically found in Settings > About Phone > OS version or via 'getprop' command on Android-based HarmonyOS devices.
    Affected if The device is running Huawei HarmonyOS as the operating system
  2. Check HarmonyOS version number
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Version on the device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.harmonyos' or 'hidumper -s 2' command to retrieve the HarmonyOS version.
    Affected if The installed HarmonyOS version is below 2.0 (e.g., 1.x, 1.0.x, etc.)
  3. Verify HwNearbyMain module is present
    Check for the HwNearbyMain process or service on the device. This can be done via 'ps -A | grep HwNearbyMain' or by examining the app list for nearby sharing/nearby discovery related packages on HarmonyOS devices.
    Affected if The HwNearbyMain module or related 'Nearby' service is installed and running on the device
  4. Review nearby service permissions and configuration
    Examine the permissions granted to the HwNearbyMain or Nearby service in Settings > Apps > HwNearbyMain (or similar) > Permissions. Also check if Nearby Share or device discovery features are enabled in Settings > Device Connection or Settings > Huawei Share.
    Affected if The HwNearbyMain module has broad permissions or nearby sharing/discovery features are enabled with sensitive data access

A user is affected if their Huawei device runs HarmonyOS version below 2.0 and has the HwNearbyMain module present with nearby services enabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.0 or later
Fixed in 2.0
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied firmware updates for affected Huawei devices once released. Restrict network access to vulnerable services and monitor for anomalous process behavior.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

HarmonyOS 2.0 or later

  1. Ensure your device is compatible with HarmonyOS 2.0 or later
  2. Back up all important data from the device before upgrading
  3. Connect the device to a stable Wi-Fi network
  4. Navigate to Settings > System & Updates (or Settings > About Phone on some devices)
  5. Select Software Update or System Update
  6. Check for available updates and download HarmonyOS 2.0 or later
  7. Install the update following the on-screen instructions
  8. After installation, verify the system is running version 2.0 or later by checking Settings > About Phone
Caveat Review HarmonyOS 2.0 release notes for any app compatibility or feature changes that may affect your environment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Harmonyos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-39989 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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