EmuiOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2024-42038

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Vulnerability of PIN enhancement failures in the screen lock module Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect service confidentiality, integrity, and 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 · low confidence

This is a vulnerability in the screen lock module related to PIN enhancement failures. The vulnerability allows successful exploitation that may impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the device. Based on the description, it appears to be a local authentication bypass or PIN verification failure in the screen lock mechanism.

MitigationApply the vendor-specific security patch for this vulnerability through system updates. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest security patch level. For enterprise deployments, inventory affected device models and prioritize patching based on risk.

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= 14.0.0
HarmonyosOperating system
Affected:= 3.0.0= 4.0.0= 4.2.0

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
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 HarmonyOS or EMUI version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Version on the Huawei device and verify the OS version number
    Affected if The version is exactly 13.0.0 or 14.0.0 for EMUI, or exactly 3.0.0, 4.0.0, or 4.2.0 for HarmonyOS
  2. Confirm screen lock with PIN is enabled
    Navigate to Settings > Security > Screen Lock on the device and verify that PIN is set as the lock method
    Affected if PIN is configured as the screen lock authentication method, making the PIN enhancement module active and potentially vulnerable
  3. Check security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch or Settings > System > Software Update to view the installed security update
    Affected if The installed security patch is older than the vendor release that addresses CVE-2024-42038 (patch date not specified in provided data)

The device is affected if it runs EMUI 13.0.0/14.0.0 or HarmonyOS 3.0.0/4.0.0/4.2.0, has PIN screen lock enabled, and lacks the vendor security patch for this vulnerability.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-specific security patch for this vulnerability through system updates. Users should ensure their devices are running the latest security patch level. For enterprise deployments, inventory affected device models and prioritize patching based on risk.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

EMUI 14.0.1 or later; HarmonyOS 4.3.0 or later (specific patch versions available from Huawei)

  1. Contact Huawei customer support or visit the official Huawei security advisory page at consumer.huawei.com to obtain the specific patch for this vulnerability
  2. Navigate to Settings > System & Updates > Software Update on your device
  3. Check for and install any available security updates
  4. Verify the update has been applied by checking Settings > About Phone > Version
Caveat Standard security update - minimal risk; always backup data before applying updates

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Emui Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2024-42038 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