VulnerabilityPublished 6 Jun 2025Updated 9 Jun 2025

CVE-2025-48904: Huawei HarmonyOS · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

Affects Huawei HarmonyOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.4 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:15 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.4Medium

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:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
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 6 Jun 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 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

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict physical access to HarmonyOS devices to trusted personnel only, minimizing opportunities for local exploitation. 2) Educate users about the risks of interacting with untrusted prompts or applications that might trigger unauthorized API calls, reducing the likelihood of user interaction exploitation. 3) Monitor device logs and biometric service activity for unusual API calls or failures in the FRS process that could indicate exploitation attempts. 4) Employ device management solutions to enforce strict application whitelisting and control over installed cards or modules that interact with the FRS process. 5) Coordinate with Huawei for timely receipt and deployment of patches or updates addressing this vulnerability once available. 6) Consider implementing additional layers of authentication or fallback mechanisms in critical systems relying on HarmonyOS biometric services to maintain availability in case of service disruption. 7) Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focusing on local privilege escalation and authentication bypass scenarios to identify and remediate similar weaknesses proactively.

Description

Vulnerability that cards can call unauthorized APIs in the FRS process Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect availability.

Impact

For European organizations using Huawei HarmonyOS devices, particularly those deploying version 5.0.0, this vulnerability could lead to service disruptions in biometric authentication systems. Organizations relying on HarmonyOS-powered devices for secure access control, identity verification, or other security-sensitive operations may experience degraded availability of facial recognition services, potentially causing operational delays or denial of service in authentication workflows. While the direct impact on confidentiality and integrity is low, the availability impact could affect user experience and system reliability. In sectors such as finance, healthcare, or government where biometric authentication is critical, even temporary unavailability could hinder secure access and compliance. Additionally, since exploitation requires local access and user interaction, the risk is somewhat mitigated in remote or well-controlled environments but remains a concern in scenarios where devices are physically accessible or users might be socially engineered. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but organizations should remain vigilant given the potential for future exploit development.

CWE-288Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product requires authentication, but the product has an alternate path or channel that does not require authentication.
Architecture and Design
Funnel all access through a single choke point to simplify how users can access a resource. For every access, perform a check to determine if the user has permissions to access the resource.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Directory Indexing (opens in a new tab)
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

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Jul 2025, 19:40 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-288

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats