EmuiOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2023-52716

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 starting activities in the background in the ActivityManagerService (AMS) 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 confidence

This is a vulnerability in Android's ActivityManagerService (AMS) that allows applications to start activities in the background without proper restrictions. The CVSS availability impact suggests this could be exploited to cause denial of service or disrupt system functionality by starting activities without user consent or in an unintended manner.

MitigationApply the relevant Android security patch for CVE-2023-52716 to the affected Android versions; this is a framework-level fix requiring updates to the ActivityManagerService in the Android OS.

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:= 12.0.0= 13.0.0
HarmonyosOperating system
Affected:= 2.0.0= 2.1.0= 3.0.0= 3.1.0= 4.0.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify device manufacturer and model
    Check if the device is a Huawei device by reviewing the device settings under 'About Phone' or checking the device packaging/logo. This vulnerability specifically affects Huawei devices running EMUI or HarmonyOS.
    Affected if Device is not a Huawei device - this CVE only applies to Huawei Emui and HarmonyOS implementations
  2. Check EMUI version for Huawei devices
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Version on Huawei devices. Look for the EMUI version number displayed (such as EMUI 12.0.0 or EMUI 13.0.0).
    Affected if EMUI version is exactly 12.0.0 or exactly 13.0.0
  3. Check HarmonyOS version for Huawei devices
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Version on Huawei devices. Look for the HarmonyOS version number displayed (such as HarmonyOS 2.0.0, 2.1.0, 3.0.0, 3.1.0, or 4.0.0).
    Affected if HarmonyOS version is exactly 2.0.0, 2.1.0, 3.0.0, 3.1.0, or 4.0.0
  4. Confirm the vulnerability condition
    Review that the device has applications that can start activities in the background. This is a default Android capability. The vulnerability allows apps to bypass the typical background activity restrictions in ActivityManagerService.
    Affected if Device runs one of the affected EMUI or HarmonyOS versions AND has applications installed that could potentially start background activities

A user is affected if their Huawei device runs EMUI 12.0.0, EMUI 13.0.0, HarmonyOS 2.0.0, 2.1.0, 3.0.0, 3.1.0, or 4.0.0 - these exact versions are the only ones listed as vulnerable to this ActivityManagerService background activity bypass flaw.

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 the relevant Android security patch for CVE-2023-52716 to the affected Android versions; this is a framework-level fix requiring updates to the ActivityManagerService in the Android OS.

Fix this in Emui Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
38.0 hours of engineering $6,560
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-52716 — 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-2023-52716 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