CVE-2023-41305
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 5G messages being sent without being encrypted in a VPN environment in the SMS message module. 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 confidenceIn a VPN environment, 5G SMS messages are being transmitted without encryption from the SMS message module. This means sensitive communications can be intercepted in transit, compromising confidentiality. The vulnerability stems from the SMS module failing to apply encryption protections when operating within a VPN tunnel.
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= 11.0.1= 12.0= 12.0.1= 13.0.0= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 3.0.0= 3.1.0= 4.0.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check your Huawei EMUI or HarmonyOS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version on your device. Alternatively, run 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' for EMUI or 'getprop ro.build.version.harmonyos' for HarmonyOS via ADB shell.Affected if The version matches 11.0.1, 12.0, 12.0.1, or 13.0.0 for EMUI; or 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 3.0.0, 3.1.0, or 4.0.0 for HarmonyOS.
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Confirm 5G SMS messaging is in useCheck if your device supports and is connected to a 5G network. Inspect your SMS application settings or carrier settings to determine if 5G messaging (RCS or 5G消息) is enabled.Affected if 5G SMS messaging is enabled and the device is connected to a 5G network while running an affected version.
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Identify if a VPN is configured or activeCheck your device for active VPN connections in Settings > Network & Internet > VPN. Alternatively, run 'adb shell dumpsys vpn' to list active VPN configurations.Affected if A VPN tunnel is active or configured on the device.
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Inspect SMS traffic for encryptionUse a network capture tool (such as Wireshark or tcpdump) on a test device or network gateway to intercept and inspect SMS packets originating from the device. Examine the packet contents to determine if the SMS data is encrypted or sent in plaintext.Affected if SMS messages are transmitted in plaintext or without encryption while both 5G SMS and a VPN are active on an affected version.
You are affected if your device runs an affected EMUI or HarmonyOS version AND uses 5G SMS messaging with an active VPN, resulting in unencrypted SMS traffic.
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 dataImplement proper encryption for 5G SMS messages in the SMS module, ensuring all messages are encrypted before transmission even when a VPN is present. Verify that the VPN encryption does not bypass or conflict with the native 5G message encryption.
- Consultation6.0 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-2023-41305 — 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-2023-41305 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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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.
- 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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