CVE-2022-44548 is a medium-severity vulnerability identified in Huawei's HarmonyOS versions 2.0 and 2.1. The flaw lies in the permission verification mechanism during the Bluetooth pairing process. Specifically, the vulnerability results in the failure to display the dialog box that normally prompts users to confirm Bluetooth pairing requests. This dialog box is a critical security control designed to prevent unauthorized or unintended Bluetooth connections. The root cause is classified under CWE-276, which relates to improper permission checks. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3, reflecting a scenario where the attack vector is adjacent network (Bluetooth), with low attack complexity, no privileges required, and no user interaction needed. The impact is limited to integrity, as the vulnerability could allow an attacker to pair a malicious Bluetooth device without user consent, potentially enabling unauthorized data exchange or control commands. However, confidentiality and availability impacts are not directly indicated. There are no known exploits in the wild, and no official patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability does not require user interaction or authentication, increasing the risk of silent exploitation in proximity to the target device. Given that Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology, exploitation requires physical proximity or adjacency to the victim device. This vulnerability could be leveraged by attackers to establish unauthorized Bluetooth connections, which might be used as a foothold for further attacks or data manipulation on affected HarmonyOS devices.

For European organizations, the primary impact of this vulnerability is the potential compromise of device integrity through unauthorized Bluetooth pairings. This could lead to malicious devices gaining access to internal networks or sensitive data via Bluetooth-enabled endpoints running HarmonyOS, especially in environments where Bluetooth is used for device interconnectivity or IoT integration. Although confidentiality and availability impacts are not directly indicated, unauthorized pairing could facilitate lateral movement or injection of malicious commands, potentially disrupting operations or leading to data integrity issues. The risk is heightened in sectors with high Bluetooth device usage, such as manufacturing, healthcare, and smart office environments. Since HarmonyOS is predominantly used on Huawei devices, organizations with Huawei mobile devices or IoT endpoints are at risk. The absence of user prompts during pairing increases the likelihood of stealthy attacks, complicating detection and response. However, the requirement for physical proximity limits remote exploitation, making insider threats or targeted local attacks more probable. The lack of known exploits in the wild suggests limited current threat activity but does not preclude future exploitation attempts.

1. Disable Bluetooth on HarmonyOS devices when not in use, especially in sensitive environments, to reduce the attack surface. 2. Implement strict device management policies that restrict the use of Huawei HarmonyOS devices or enforce Bluetooth usage controls via Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. 3. Monitor Bluetooth connection logs for unusual or unauthorized pairing attempts, leveraging endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools capable of Bluetooth activity monitoring. 4. Educate users about the risks of unauthorized Bluetooth connections and encourage reporting of unexpected device behaviors. 5. Where possible, isolate HarmonyOS devices on segmented networks to limit potential lateral movement from compromised Bluetooth connections. 6. Regularly check for and apply official patches or security updates from Huawei addressing this vulnerability once available. 7. Employ physical security controls to limit attacker proximity to critical devices, such as secure zones or restricted access areas. 8. Consider disabling automatic or simplified Bluetooth pairing modes that might exacerbate the risk of silent pairing.