VulnerabilityPublished 6 Dec 2023Updated 28 May 2025

CVE-2023-49246: Huawei HarmonyOS · Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

Affects Huawei HarmonyOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 15:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 36% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Dec 2023
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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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
Huawei HarmonyOS	Affected 2.0.0 – 4.0.0 4 affected builds	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2023-49246 effectively, European organizations should: 1) Immediately inventory all Huawei devices running affected versions of HarmonyOS to assess exposure. 2) Monitor Huawei's official security advisories for patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and prioritize timely deployment once available. 3) Implement network-level controls such as segmentation and strict firewall rules to limit external access to devices running HarmonyOS, especially restricting access to the card management module interfaces. 4) Employ intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or heuristics targeting unusual access patterns to the card management module. 5) Enforce strict endpoint security policies, including disabling unnecessary services and applying principle of least privilege to reduce attack surface. 6) Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing focusing on Huawei devices to detect potential exploitation attempts. 7) Educate IT staff and users about the risks associated with unauthorized access vulnerabilities and encourage reporting of suspicious device behavior. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on proactive device management, network controls, and monitoring tailored to the specific nature of this vulnerability.

Description

Unauthorized access vulnerability in the card management module. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect service confidentiality.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2023-49246 could be substantial, particularly for enterprises and service providers utilizing Huawei devices running HarmonyOS. The unauthorized access to the card management module could lead to breaches of confidentiality, exposing sensitive user information such as payment card data, identification credentials, or other personal data managed within the module. This could result in privacy violations under GDPR, leading to regulatory penalties and reputational damage. Additionally, organizations relying on Huawei devices for critical communication or business operations might face increased risk of targeted espionage or data leakage. The vulnerability's network-exploitable nature means attackers can remotely compromise devices without user interaction, increasing the threat surface. Given Huawei's significant market share in telecommunications and consumer electronics in Europe, especially in countries with substantial Huawei infrastructure or consumer base, the risk is non-trivial. Furthermore, the lack of integrity or availability impact reduces the likelihood of service disruption but does not diminish the severity of confidential data exposure.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Jul 2025, 08:24 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats