VulnerabilityPublished 7 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-53168: Huawei HarmonyOS · Permission Issues

Affects Huawei HarmonyOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.7 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.7Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 6% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
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: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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 7 Jul 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 =5.1.0 =5.0.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Network Segmentation: Isolate devices running HarmonyOS with distributed camera capabilities on separate network segments with strict access controls to limit adjacency to trusted devices only.
Privilege Management: Enforce strict privilege separation and monitor for unauthorized privilege escalations on devices within the network.
Monitoring and Logging: Implement enhanced monitoring of camera access logs and network traffic to detect unusual or unauthorized camera usage patterns.
Device Inventory and Patch Management: Maintain an up-to-date inventory of HarmonyOS devices and apply security updates promptly once patches become available from Huawei.
Access Control Policies: Configure device and network-level access controls to restrict camera usage to authorized applications and users only.
User Awareness: Educate users about the risks of unauthorized camera access and encourage reporting of suspicious device behavior.
Vendor Engagement: Engage with Huawei for timely security advisories and patches, and consider alternative solutions if timely remediation is not feasible.
Incident Response Preparedness: Develop and test incident response plans specifically addressing unauthorized camera access scenarios.

Description

Vulnerability of bypassing the process to start SA and use related functions on distributed cameras Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may allow the peer device to use the camera without user awareness.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant privacy and confidentiality risk, especially for entities using Huawei HarmonyOS devices with distributed camera capabilities. Sectors such as government, critical infrastructure, corporate offices, and smart city deployments that rely on distributed cameras for security or monitoring could be targeted for covert surveillance. The ability to access cameras without user awareness could lead to unauthorized data collection, espionage, or violation of GDPR privacy regulations, potentially resulting in legal and reputational damage. Since the attack requires network adjacency and low privileges, insider threats or compromised devices within the same network segment could exploit this vulnerability. The impact is primarily on confidentiality, with no direct effect on system integrity or availability, but the covert nature of the attack increases the risk of undetected breaches. Organizations with distributed IoT or smart devices running HarmonyOS should be particularly vigilant.

References

consumer.huawei.com/en/support/bulletin/2025/7/ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Jul 2025, 02:58 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-275

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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