OpenharmonyOperating system · Openatom

CVE-2025-20042

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.0.2 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 v5.0.2 and prior versions allow a local attacker cause information leak through out-of-bounds read.

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 v5.0.2 and prior versions contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that allows a local attacker to read sensitive information from memory locations outside the intended buffer boundaries.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of OpenHarmony beyond v5.0.2 when available. If no patch exists, audit the affected component for missing bounds checks and implement proper array/buffer boundary validation.

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:>= 4.1, <= 5.0.2

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 OpenHarmony version
    Run 'syspara os.version' or check /system/etc/param/ohos.version file to obtain the installed OpenHarmony version
    Affected if Version is between 4.1 and 5.0.2 inclusive (4.1 <= version <= 5.0.2)
  2. Confirm OpenHarmony edition
    Run 'syspara ro.build.version_sdk' or check /system/build.prop to confirm this is Openatom OpenHarmony rather than another OpenHarmony distribution
    Affected if The system runs Openatom OpenHarmony with version in the affected range
  3. Identify affected component
    Audit running services and daemons that handle memory buffer operations; check component logs for out-of-bounds read errors or memory access violations in /var/log/
    Affected if A component that performs buffer/memory operations is active and the version is vulnerable
  4. Check for local untrusted access
    Review user access controls and file permissions on sensitive system directories; verify if untrusted local users can execute code or access system resources
    Affected if Untrusted local users have access to the system, as the vulnerability requires local attacker access

If the installed OpenHarmony version is 4.1 or higher but 5.0.2 or lower, the system is within the affected version range and may be vulnerable to out-of-bounds read attacks.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 5.0.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of OpenHarmony beyond v5.0.2 when available. If no patch exists, audit the affected component for missing bounds checks and implement proper array/buffer boundary validation.

Fix this in Openharmony Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20042 — 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-2025-20042 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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