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OpenharmonyOperating system · Openatom

CVE-2023-0035

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.0.5 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
softbus_client_stub in communication subsystem within OpenHarmony-v3.0.5 and prior versions has an authentication bypass vulnerability which allows an "SA relay attack".Local attackers can bypass authentication and attack other SAs with high privilege.

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

The softbus_client_stub component in OpenHarmony's communication subsystem contains an authentication bypass vulnerability allowing local attackers to perform an SA relay attack. This enables privilege escalation by relaying authentication credentials to impersonate high-privilege System Abilities (SAs), bypassing the normal authentication checks in the inter-process communication pathway.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for OpenHarmony v3.0.5 or later if available. If no patch exists, consider implementing additional authentication validation layers or network segmentation to limit local attack surface until a fix is deployed.

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
OpenharmonyOperating system
Affected:>= 3.0, <= 3.0.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 OpenHarmony version
    Run 'paramget' or check /system/etc/param/VERSION file to retrieve the installed OpenHarmony version number
    Affected if The installed version is between 3.0 and 3.0.5 inclusive (>= 3.0.0 and <= 3.0.5)
  2. Locate softbus_client_stub component
    Search for the softbus_client_stub binary or library in /system/lib or /system/bin directories using 'find' command: find /system -name '*softbus*'
    Affected if The softbus_client_stub component exists in the system, indicating the vulnerable component is present
  3. Inspect communication subsystem IPC configuration
    Check the communication subsystem configuration files in /etc/softbus/ or /system/etc/softbus/ for IPC authentication settings
    Affected if The IPC authentication validation for System Abilities is disabled or missing in the softbus configuration files
  4. Verify SA (System Ability) permission settings
    Examine the SA permission configuration in /etc/hwperm/ or /system/etc/hwperm/ directories to identify any high-privilege SAs that may be susceptible to relay attacks
    Affected if High-privilege SAs are configured to accept relayed authentication without additional local verification

A system is affected if it runs OpenHarmony version 3.0 through 3.0.5 and has the softbus_client_stub component present, enabling a local attacker to perform SA relay attacks for privilege escalation.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.0.5
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch for OpenHarmony v3.0.5 or later if available. If no patch exists, consider implementing additional authentication validation layers or network segmentation to limit local attack surface until a fix is deployed.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

OpenHarmony 3.1 or later (3.2 LTS recommended)

  1. 1. Identify current OpenHarmony version in your deployment using system version checking tools
  2. 2. Review OpenHarmony release notes from version 3.1 and later to confirm CVE-2023-0035 is addressed
  3. 3. Plan upgrade to the latest stable OpenHarmony release (recommended 3.2 LTS or later)
  4. 4. Test upgrade in a non-production environment before deploying to production
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify that the softbus_client_stub authentication bypass is no longer present
  6. 6. Monitor for any abnormal SA (System Ability) communication behavior post-upgrade
Caveat Review release notes for breaking changes between 3.0.x and target upgrade version; some APIs or system behaviors may have changed

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Openharmony Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $6,920
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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-2023-0035 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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