HarmonyosOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2022-38977

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-10-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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 HwAirlink module has a heap overflow vulnerability.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may cause out-of-bounds writes, resulting in modification of sensitive data.

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

Heap overflow vulnerability in HwAirlink module allowing out-of-bounds writes, enabling modification of sensitive data. The vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking during memory operations.

MitigationImplement proper memory bounds validation in HwAirlink module; apply vendor patches when available; consider input sanitization and memory-safe coding practices.

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= 2.1

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify HarmonyOS installation
    Determine if the system or device is running Huawei HarmonyOS. This may be visible in system information, device properties, or firmware details.
    Affected if The system is running Huawei HarmonyOS
  2. Check HarmonyOS version
    Retrieve the installed HarmonyOS version. Compare against the affected versions 2.0 and 2.1.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.0 or exactly 2.1
  3. Locate HwAirlink module
    Identify whether the HwAirlink module is present on the system. This may require examining system modules, kernel components, or network-related components depending on where HwAirlink operates.
    Affected if The HwAirlink module is present and loaded on the system
  4. Verify HwAirlink is active
    Determine if the HwAirlink module is actively in use or enabled. Check for running processes, loaded kernel modules, or active network interfaces related to Airlink functionality.
    Affected if HwAirlink is enabled and actively processing data

The environment is affected if HarmonyOS version 2.0 or 2.1 is installed AND the HwAirlink module is present and enabled, as the heap overflow requires both conditions to be exploitable.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper memory bounds validation in HwAirlink module; apply vendor patches when available; consider input sanitization and memory-safe coding practices.

Fix this in Harmonyos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-38977 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