CVE-2023-52388
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 · uneditedPermission control vulnerability in the clock module. Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability will affect availability.
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 permission control vulnerability in the clock module where improper access controls allow unauthorized users or processes to manipulate clock settings or functions. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH) and specifically impacts system availability, likely through denial of service or clock manipulation attacks.
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= 13.0.0= 2.0.0= 2.1.0= 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check your Huawei device EMUI versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version on your Huawei device. Alternatively, run 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' via ADB shell if available.Affected if The version is exactly 12.0.0 or 13.0.0
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Check your Huawei device HarmonyOS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version on your Huawei device. Alternatively, run 'getprop ro.build.version.emui' or 'getprop ro.build.version.harmonyos' via ADB shell if available.Affected if The version is exactly 2.0.0, 2.1.0, 3.0.0, 3.1.0, or 4.0.0
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Identify clock module accessibilityReview any installed applications or services that request permission to modify system time or clock settings. Check Settings > Apps > Permissions for time or clock-related permissions.Affected if Applications without elevated privileges can access or modify clock settings
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Verify clock service exposureCheck if any clock-related system services are listening on network ports or exposed via IPC mechanisms. Use 'dumpsys' via ADB shell to list system services.Affected if Clock services are accessible to non-privileged processes or remote callers
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Audit access control configurationsReview system security configurations or SELinux policies related to time and clock functions. Look for any custom or third-party modifications to permission settings.Affected if Access controls for clock functions are missing, misconfigured, or allow unauthorized access
Your device is affected if it runs exactly EMUI 12.0.0 or 13.0.0, or exactly HarmonyOS 2.0.0, 2.1.0, 3.0.0, 3.1.0, or 4.0.0 AND the clock module is accessible to unauthorized users or processes.
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 dataApply vendor patches or updates for the clock module that implement proper permission validation. If no patch is available, restrict access to clock-related functions through access control lists or network segmentation.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-52388 — 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-2023-52388 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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