EmuiOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2023-52378

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Vulnerability of incorrect service logic in the WindowManagerServices module.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may cause features to perform abnormally.

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 is a logic vulnerability in the WindowManagerServices system service component, likely on Huawei EMUI/HarmonyOS devices. The 'incorrect service logic' indicates a flaw in how the service processes requests or manages window interactions, which can be exploited to cause abnormal feature behavior. With a CVSS 9.8 rating, it is likely exploitable remotely or with low attack complexity without authentication, potentially allowing privilege escalation or service abuse.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied security patches for this vulnerability; if unavailable, consider restricting network exposure and monitoring for unusual WindowManager service behavior as a temporary mitigation.

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:= 13.0.0
HarmonyosOperating system
Affected:= 3.0.0= 3.1.0

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 the device OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Version on the Huawei device, or use 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' or 'getprop ro.build.version.huawei' via ADB shell to retrieve the exact EMUI or HarmonyOS version
    Affected if The displayed version is exactly EMUI 13.0.0 or HarmonyOS 3.0.0 or HarmonyOS 3.1.0
  2. Confirm the operating system type
    Check if the device is running Huawei EMUI or Huawei HarmonyOS by examining the system properties or the device Settings > About Phone screen
    Affected if The device runs Huawei EMUI or HarmonyOS and matches the version check above
  3. Identify WindowManagerServices availability
    Verify that the WindowManagerServices system service is present on the device by checking system logs or using 'dumpsys window' command via ADB shell to confirm the service is active
    Affected if WindowManagerServices is present and active on the device (this is a standard service on affected EMUI/HarmonyOS versions)

A user is affected if their Huawei device runs exactly EMUI 13.0.0 or HarmonyOS 3.0.0 or HarmonyOS 3.1.0 with the WindowManagerServices system service enabled.

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

Apply vendor-supplied security patches for this vulnerability; if unavailable, consider restricting network exposure and monitoring for unusual WindowManager service behavior as a temporary mitigation.

Fix this in Emui Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,460
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-52378 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52378 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data