VulnerabilityPublished 7 Apr 2025Updated 18 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-31171: Huawei HarmonyOS · Missing Authorization

Affects Huawei HarmonyOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.8 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:55 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.8Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 1% 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:H/I:L/A:N

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

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: 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: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on 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 7 Apr 2025
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 =5.0.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Immediate deployment of security updates or patches from Huawei once available is critical. Since no patches are currently linked, organizations should monitor Huawei security advisories closely.
Restrict physical access to devices running HarmonyOS to trusted personnel only, reducing the risk of local exploitation.
Implement strict application control policies to prevent installation or execution of unauthorized or untrusted applications that could exploit the vulnerability.
Employ device management solutions to monitor and control HarmonyOS devices, enabling rapid detection of suspicious activities or unauthorized file access attempts.
Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing focusing on Huawei devices to identify potential exploitation paths.
For organizations using Huawei IoT devices, segment these devices on separate network zones with limited access to sensitive systems to contain potential breaches.
Educate users about the risks of installing untrusted applications and the importance of device security hygiene.
Consider alternative devices or OS platforms where feasible, especially for high-risk environments, until the vulnerability is fully mitigated.

Description

File read permission bypass vulnerability in the kernel file system module Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect service confidentiality.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-31171 depends largely on the extent of HarmonyOS device deployment within their infrastructure or among employees. While HarmonyOS is less prevalent in Europe compared to Android or iOS, Huawei devices are present in some sectors, especially in telecommunications and IoT deployments. The vulnerability could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information stored on affected devices, including corporate data, credentials, or configuration files. This could facilitate further attacks such as privilege escalation or lateral movement within networks. Confidentiality breaches could have regulatory implications under GDPR if personal data is exposed. Additionally, organizations relying on Huawei IoT devices for critical infrastructure or industrial control could face risks if attackers access sensitive operational data. Although the attack vector is local, the risk increases if attackers gain physical access or can execute malicious code remotely through other vulnerabilities or social engineering. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity score and potential confidentiality impact warrant proactive mitigation.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
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)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

consumer.huawei.com/en/support/bulletin/2025/6/ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Sep 2025, 00:21 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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