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OpenharmonyOperating system · Openatom

CVE-2023-0036

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
platform_callback_stub in misc 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 platform_callback_stub in OpenHarmony's misc subsystem contains an authentication bypass vulnerability where local attackers can exploit an SA (System Ability) relay attack to bypass authentication and target high-privilege System Abilities. This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the IPC mechanism between SAs.

MitigationApply vendor patches for OpenHarmony v3.0.5 and prior versions to remediate the authentication bypass in platform_callback_stub. Restrict local access to minimize attack surface.

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. Check OpenHarmony version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.sdk' or check system property 'hw_sc.build.platform.version' to retrieve the OpenHarmony platform version
    Affected if Version is between 3.0 and 3.0.5 inclusive
  2. Identify platform_callback_stub presence
    Search for the platform_callback_stub binary or service in /system/bin or /vendor/bin directories using 'find' or 'ls' commands
    Affected if The platform_callback_stub binary exists and is running as a system service
  3. Verify System Ability configuration
    Check SA registry configuration files in /etc or /system/etc for registered System Abilities, looking for high-privilege SAs that use IPC
    Affected if High-privilege SAs (such as system ability IDs with privileged access) are registered and accessible via IPC
  4. Test IPC authentication mechanism
    Use hdc or debugging tools to attempt a relay attack probe against the callback stub interface - inspect whether authentication tokens are properly validated
    Affected if The platform_callback_stub accepts IPC requests without requiring proper SA-level authentication verification

If running OpenHarmony 3.0.x and the platform_callback_stub service is active with exposed high-privilege System Abilities, the environment is vulnerable to this authentication bypass.

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 vendor patches for OpenHarmony v3.0.5 and prior versions to remediate the authentication bypass in platform_callback_stub. Restrict local access to minimize attack surface.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

OpenHarmony version > 3.0.5 (e.g., 3.0.6 or 3.1.x - verify specific fixed version in official release notes)

  1. 1. Identify the current OpenHarmony version in your environment to confirm it is within the affected range (3.0.x through 3.0.5)
  2. 2. Consult the official OpenHarmony release notes or security advisories on gitee.com to identify the first fixed release version
  3. 3. Plan and schedule an upgrade to a version newer than 3.0.5 that includes the platform_callback_stub authentication fix
  4. 4. After upgrading, verify that the platform_callback_stub component has been updated and the SA relay attack vector is closed
  5. 5. Test the fix in a staging environment before deploying to production
Caveat Review release notes for the target upgrade version for any breaking changes in the misc subsystem or SA framework

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

Fix this in Openharmony Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
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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-2023-0036 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
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