CVE-2023-47857VulnerabilityPublished 2 Jan 2024Updated 3 Jun 2025

CVE-2023-47857: OpenHarmony · Use After Free

Affects OpenHarmonySource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.0 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.0Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 2 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
OpenHarmony OpenHarmony	Affected =3.2.0 <=3.2.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2023-47857, European organizations should first identify all devices running OpenHarmony OS, particularly versions 3.2.2 and earlier. Since no official patches are currently linked, organizations should monitor OpenHarmony project updates and apply security patches promptly once available. In the interim, restricting local access to devices is critical; this includes enforcing strict physical security controls and network segmentation to limit exposure to potential local attackers. Device hardening measures, such as disabling unnecessary multimedia camera services where feasible, can reduce the attack surface. Additionally, implementing runtime protections like memory safety tools or sandboxing multimedia components may help mitigate exploitation risks. Organizations should also conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments on their OpenHarmony deployments to detect anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts.

Description

in OpenHarmony v3.2.2 and prior versions allow a local attacker cause multimedia camera crash through modify a released pointer.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2023-47857 is primarily related to availability disruptions in devices running OpenHarmony OS, particularly those with camera capabilities. Organizations deploying OpenHarmony-based IoT devices, smart home systems, or embedded systems with multimedia features could experience service interruptions if a local attacker exploits this vulnerability. While the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the denial of service could affect operational continuity, especially in environments relying on camera-enabled devices for security monitoring, quality control, or communication. Given the local attack vector, the risk is higher in scenarios where physical or local network access is possible, such as in manufacturing plants, smart buildings, or enterprise IoT deployments. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity rating suggests that organizations should proactively address the issue to prevent potential disruptions.

CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

gitee.com/openharmony/security/blob/master/zh/security-disclosure/2024/2024-01.md (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Jul 2025, 06:27 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-416

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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