dbcve.org
OpenharmonyOperating system · Openatom

CVE-2024-38386

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-09-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.1 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
in OpenHarmony v4.1.0 and prior versions allow a local attacker arbitrary code execution in pre-installed apps through out-of-bounds write.

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

OpenHarmony v4.1.0 and prior versions contain an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in pre-installed apps that allows a local attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking in memory operations within the affected pre-installed applications.

MitigationApply vendor patches or system updates for OpenHarmony to address the vulnerability in affected pre-installed apps; if no patch is available, consider removing or disabling vulnerable pre-installed apps until a fix is released.

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:>= 4.0, <= 4.1

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
    Retrieve the system version through system settings or by reading the version file at /etc/version or using the 'getprop' command to confirm the installed OpenHarmony version matches the affected range (4.0 to 4.1 inclusive)
    Affected if The installed version is between 4.0 and 4.1 inclusive
  2. Identify pre-installed applications
    List all pre-installed applications on the device by examining the /system/preinstall/ or /preinstall/ directories, or use the package manager command 'bm dump -a' to enumerate pre-installed apps
    Affected if Any pre-installed applications exist on the system within the affected version range
  3. Verify pre-installed apps are enabled
    Check if any pre-installed applications are in an enabled or executable state by examining their permissions and whether they can be launched by a local user
    Affected if Pre-installed apps are present and accessible to local users without elevated privileges
  4. Check for local user access to app data directories
    Inspect file permissions on /data/data/ or /data/app/ directories to determine if a local attacker could interact with pre-installed application components
    Affected if Local users have read or write access to pre-installed app data directories without authentication

A user is affected if their OpenHarmony version is 4.0 to 4.1 and they have pre-installed applications that are accessible to local users.

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 4.1
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches or system updates for OpenHarmony to address the vulnerability in affected pre-installed apps; if no patch is available, consider removing or disabling vulnerable pre-installed apps until a fix is released.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

OpenHarmony version greater than 4.1 (await official release containing the fix)

  1. 1. Identify all OpenHarmony devices/systems running versions 4.0 through 4.1
  2. 2. Monitor the official OpenHarmony security advisories and gitee.com repository for the released patch addressing CVE-2024-38386
  3. 3. Once the security patch is available, apply it following OpenHarmony standard update procedures
  4. 4. Verify the patch has been successfully applied by checking the version or build number

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
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2024-38386 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