dbcve.org
HarmonyosOperating system · Huawei

CVE-2026-28538

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Path traversal vulnerability in the certificate management module. Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may 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 · low confidence

A path traversal vulnerability exists in the certificate management module, allowing attackers to use '../' sequences to access files outside the intended certificate directory. This can lead to denial of service by reading or overwriting sensitive system files, impacting availability.

MitigationImplement strict input validation using allowlists for certificate file paths, normalize and canonicalize all file paths before use, restrict file system access permissions, and consider using a chroot jail or container isolation for the certificate management component.

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
HarmonyosOperating system
Affected:= 5.1.0= 6.0.0

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 the operating system
    Determine if the system is running Huawei HarmonyOS by checking system information, kernel details, or OS release files
    Affected if The system is NOT running Huawei HarmonyOS
  2. Verify the HarmonyOS version
    Check the installed HarmonyOS version using system info commands or version files - compare against 5.1.0 and 6.0.0 specifically
    Affected if The version is NOT exactly 5.1.0 or 6.0.0
  3. Confirm certificate management module is active
    Identify whether the certificate management module or certificate handling features are enabled or configured on the system
    Affected if The certificate management module is not present or not configured on the system

A user is affected if their system runs Huawei HarmonyOS version 5.1.0 or 6.0.0 and has the certificate management module enabled or configured.

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

Implement strict input validation using allowlists for certificate file paths, normalize and canonicalize all file paths before use, restrict file system access permissions, and consider using a chroot jail or container isolation for the certificate management component.

Fix this in Harmonyos 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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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-2026-28538 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