EmuiOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2022-48360

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-27
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 facial recognition module has a vulnerability in file permission control. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect 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 confidence

This vulnerability involves improper file permission controls within a facial recognition module. The weak file permissions could allow unauthorized users to access sensitive files such as biometric data, trained models, or configuration files, potentially compromising confidentiality of the facial recognition data.

MitigationImplement proper file permission controls by restricting access to sensitive files in the facial recognition module to authorized users and processes only, following the principle of least privilege.

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
EmuiOperating system
Affected:= 12.0.0= 13.0.0
HarmonyosOperating system
Affected:= 2.0.0= 2.1.0= 3.0.0

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify your HarmonyOS or EMUI version
    Go to Settings > About Phone (or System > About Device) and locate the version number under 'Version' or 'HarmonyOS version' / 'EMUI version'
    Affected if The version displayed matches 12.0.0 or 13.0.0 for EMUI, or 2.0.0, 2.1.0, or 3.0.0 for HarmonyOS
  2. Confirm facial recognition is configured
    Navigate to Settings > Security > Face Recognition (or Settings > Apps > Face Recognition) and check if any facial data is enrolled or the feature is enabled
    Affected if Facial recognition is enrolled or enabled on the device
  3. Check facial recognition data file permissions
    Using a file manager with root access or ADB shell, navigate to the facial recognition data directory (typically under /data or /data/huawei) and list permissions with 'ls -la' command on files in the biometric data folder
    Affected if File permissions on facial recognition data, models, or configuration files show read/write access for unauthorized users or groups (for example, permissions like 777 or world-readable files)
  4. Inspect biometric data storage permissions
    Check the file permissions on directories storing biometric templates or facial recognition models using 'ls -ld' command on folders such as /data/biometric or /data/faceauth
    Affected if The directory permissions allow access by non-privileged users or applications (world-readable or group-readable with weak restrictions)

You are affected if your device runs one of the listed HarmonyOS or EMUI versions AND facial recognition is enabled AND file permissions on facial recognition data files are overly permissive (world-readable or accessible by unauthorized users).

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 file permission controls by restricting access to sensitive files in the facial recognition module to authorized users and processes only, following the principle of least privilege.

Fix this in Emui Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,150
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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-2022-48360 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
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