CVE-2022-38985
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 · uneditedThe facial recognition module has a vulnerability in input validation.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect data confidentiality.
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 confidenceInput validation vulnerability in facial recognition module allowing potential unauthorized access to data. The weakness likely stems from insufficient validation of input data (possibly image data or API parameters) processed by the facial recognition system, potentially exposing sensitive data.
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= 12.0.0= 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 Huawei Emui versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Version on the Huawei device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' via ADB shell, or check the device management consoleAffected if The installed Emui version is exactly 12.0.0
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Check Huawei Harmonyos versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Version on the Huawei device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.harmonyos' via ADB shell, or check the device management consoleAffected if The installed Harmonyos version is exactly 2.0
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Verify facial recognition enrollment statusNavigate to Settings > Security > Face Recognition on the Huawei device, or check if any facial recognition templates are stored in the device's secure enclaveAffected if Facial recognition has been set up and enrolled on the device
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Confirm facial recognition is used for device unlock or authenticationNavigate to Settings > Passwords & Biometrics > Face Recognition > Unlock device, or review authentication policies to determine if facial recognition is an active unlock methodAffected if Facial recognition is enabled as an unlock or authentication method
A device is affected if it runs Huawei Emui 12.0.0 or Harmonyos 2.0 AND has facial recognition configured as an active authentication method, since the vulnerability requires the facial recognition module to process input data.
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 dataImplement rigorous input validation and sanitization for all data processed by the facial recognition module, including format checking, bounds checking, and rejection of malformed input.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-38985 — 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-2022-38985 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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- 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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