CVE-2022-43451
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 · uneditedOpenHarmony-v3.1.2 and prior versions had an Multiple path traversal vulnerability in appspawn and nwebspawn services. Local attackers can create arbitrary directories or escape application sandbox.If chained with other vulnerabilities it would allow an unprivileged process to gain full root privileges.
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 confidenceOpenHarmony v3.1.2 and prior versions contain a path traversal vulnerability in the appspawn and nwebspawn services. Local attackers can exploit this to create arbitrary directories on the system or escape application sandbox restrictions. When combined with other vulnerabilities, this can enable an unprivileged process to escalate to full root privileges.
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>= 3.1, <= 3.1.2CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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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Identify OpenHarmony versionCheck the system version file or use the 'getprop' command if available (e.g., 'getprop ro.build.version.sdk' or check /etc/version). For embedded devices, check /vendor or /system/build.prop for 'ro.build.version.release' or similar version properties.Affected if The installed version is >= 3.1.0 and <= 3.1.2 (including any point releases within this range)
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Locate appspawn serviceSearch for the appspawn binary or service. Check common locations such as /system/bin/, /vendor/bin/, or use 'find / -name appspawn 2>/dev/null'. If using systemd, run 'systemctl list-units --all | grep appspawn' or check /etc/systemd/system/ for service files.Affected if The appspawn binary or service file exists on the system within the affected version range
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Locate nwebspawn serviceSearch for the nwebspawn binary or service. Check common locations such as /system/bin/, /vendor/bin/, or use 'find / -name nwebspawn 2>/dev/null'. If using systemd, run 'systemctl list-units --all | grep nwebspawn' or check /etc/systemd/system/ for service files.Affected if The nwebspawn binary or service file exists on the system within the affected version range
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Verify service status if foundIf the binaries or services are found, check their running status. For systemd: 'systemctl status appspawn' and 'systemctl status nwebspawn'. For init scripts: check running processes with 'ps aux | grep -E "appspawn|nwebspawn"'.Affected if Either the appspawn or nwebspawn service is currently running or enabled on the system
The system is affected if OpenHarmony version is 3.1, 3.1.1, or 3.1.2 AND the appspawn or nwebspawn service is present on the device.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version of OpenHarmony beyond v3.1.2. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement input validation and sanitization on file path operations within appspawn and nwebspawn services to prevent directory traversal attacks.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-43451 — 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-2022-43451 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
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