CVE-2022-48518
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 · uneditedVulnerability of signature verification in the iaware system being initialized later than the time when the system broadcasts are sent. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may cause malicious apps to start upon power-on by spoofing the package names of apps in the startup trustlist, which affects system performance.
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 confidenceThis is a race condition vulnerability in Android's iaware system where signature verification is initialized after system broadcasts are sent during boot. Attackers can exploit this timing window to register malicious apps in the startup trustlist by spoofing package names of trusted applications, causing those malicious apps to automatically start on power-on.
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= 12.0.1= 2.0.0= 2.0.1CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check your device OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version on the device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' or 'getprop ro.build.version.huawei' via ADB shellAffected if The version shown is 12.0.0 or 12.0.1 for Emui, or 2.0.0 or 2.0.1 for Harmonyos
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Examine the iaware startup trustlistCheck system configuration files in /data/system/ or /etc/ for iaware-related trustlist files, or use ADB to query: 'dumpsys iaware' if availableAffected if There are entries in the trustlist for packages you do not recognize or did not install yourself
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Review installed apps for suspicious packagesList all installed packages via ADB: 'pm list packages -s' and cross-reference against the startup trustlist entriesAffected if A package exists in the trustlist that you cannot identify or that mimics a known trusted application name but was not installed by you from an official source
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Check boot logs for iaware initialization timingRetrieve boot logs from logcat filtered for 'iaware' or 'startup' events: 'adb logcat -d | grep -i iaware'Affected if Logs show broadcasts being sent before signature verification completes, indicating the race condition window exists
You are affected if your device runs Emui 12.0.0/12.0.1 or Harmonyos 2.0.0/2.0.1 AND an unknown or spoofed package is present in the iaware startup trustlist.
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 dataThe fix requires ensuring signature verification and trustlist validation completes before any system broadcasts related to startup are sent. This involves reordering the iaware system initialization sequence to verify signatures before broadcast dispatch.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-48518 — 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-2022-48518 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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