CVE-2025-27242 is a vulnerability identified in OpenHarmony version 5.0.3 and earlier, specifically affecting version 5.0.1. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-20, which relates to improper input validation. This flaw allows a local attacker with limited privileges (PR:L) to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition by supplying malformed or unexpected input to the affected OpenHarmony system. The vulnerability does not require user interaction (UI:N) and has a low attack complexity (AC:L), meaning exploitation is straightforward once local access is obtained. The attack vector is local (AV:L), indicating that the attacker must have some form of local access to the device or system running OpenHarmony. The impact is limited to availability (A:L), with no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The vulnerability does not appear to have any known exploits in the wild as of the publication date (June 8, 2025), and no patches or fixes have been linked yet. OpenHarmony is an open-source operating system designed for IoT and smart devices, which means this vulnerability could affect a range of embedded and consumer devices running this OS. Improper input validation can lead to unexpected behavior, and in this case, it results in a denial of service, potentially causing the device or system to crash or become unresponsive.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-27242 lies in the potential disruption of services or device functionality due to denial of service attacks. Since OpenHarmony is used in IoT and smart devices, organizations relying on such devices for critical operations—such as smart manufacturing, smart building management, or connected healthcare devices—could experience operational interruptions. Although the vulnerability requires local access, insider threats or attackers who gain physical access to devices could exploit this flaw to disrupt availability. The lack of impact on confidentiality and integrity reduces the risk of data breaches or unauthorized data modification, but availability disruptions can still have significant operational and financial consequences. The absence of known exploits and the low CVSS score suggest a lower immediate risk, but organizations should remain vigilant, especially those deploying OpenHarmony in environments where device availability is critical.

To mitigate the risk posed by CVE-2025-27242, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict physical and local access to devices running OpenHarmony to trusted personnel only, employing strong access control and monitoring. 2) Monitor devices for unusual behavior or crashes that could indicate exploitation attempts. 3) Maintain an inventory of all devices running OpenHarmony and track their versions to identify those affected by this vulnerability. 4) Engage with OpenHarmony project updates and security advisories to apply patches promptly once they become available. 5) Implement network segmentation to isolate IoT and smart devices from critical network segments, limiting the potential impact of a compromised device. 6) Conduct regular security training for staff to recognize and prevent unauthorized local access. 7) Where possible, deploy endpoint protection solutions capable of detecting anomalous local activities on IoT devices. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling local access and monitoring device behavior specific to the nature of this vulnerability.