CVE-2025-54611 is a high-severity vulnerability identified in Huawei's HarmonyOS, specifically within the Gallery module. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-840, which pertains to business logic errors. This particular flaw involves an EXTRA_REFERRER resource read vulnerability, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive information. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of HarmonyOS, ranging from 2.0.0 through 4.3.1, indicating a broad impact across many device generations. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.3, reflecting a high severity level. The vector string (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L) indicates that the attack requires local access (AV:L), has low attack complexity (AC:L), does not require privileges (PR:N) or user interaction (UI:N), and impacts confidentiality significantly (C:H), with limited impact on integrity (I:L) and availability (A:L). The vulnerability allows an attacker with local access to read sensitive resource data from the Gallery module, potentially exposing confidential information. Since it is a business logic error, the flaw likely arises from improper handling of resource references or access control within the application logic, rather than a traditional memory corruption or injection flaw. No known exploits are reported in the wild yet, and no official patches have been linked at the time of publication. The vulnerability's presence in a core OS component used in Huawei devices means that exploitation could compromise user data confidentiality, potentially leaking private images or metadata stored in the Gallery app. Given the lack of required privileges or user interaction, the attack surface is significant for any local attacker or malicious app with local access capabilities.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-54611 depends largely on the deployment of Huawei devices running affected versions of HarmonyOS within their environment. Enterprises using Huawei smartphones, tablets, or IoT devices with the vulnerable Gallery module risk exposure of sensitive images or data stored on these devices. Confidentiality breaches could lead to leakage of proprietary or personal information, undermining privacy and compliance with regulations such as GDPR. The vulnerability's local access requirement limits remote exploitation but does not eliminate risk from insider threats, compromised endpoints, or malicious applications installed on devices. In sectors where Huawei devices are prevalent, such as telecommunications, manufacturing, or public services, this vulnerability could be leveraged to gather intelligence or conduct targeted espionage. The limited impact on integrity and availability reduces the risk of system disruption but does not diminish the potential damage from confidentiality loss. Overall, the vulnerability poses a significant risk to data privacy and could facilitate further attacks if combined with other vulnerabilities or social engineering techniques.

1. Immediate mitigation should focus on restricting local access to Huawei devices running affected HarmonyOS versions. Organizations should enforce strict device usage policies, including limiting physical access and preventing installation of untrusted applications. 2. Monitor device behavior for unusual access patterns to the Gallery app or unauthorized resource reads, leveraging endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools tailored for mobile or IoT devices. 3. Engage with Huawei for official patches or updates addressing CVE-2025-54611 and prioritize timely deployment once available. 4. Implement application whitelisting and privilege restrictions on devices to minimize the risk of malicious apps exploiting the vulnerability. 5. Educate users about the risks of installing unverified apps and the importance of device security hygiene. 6. For sensitive environments, consider network segmentation and mobile device management (MDM) solutions that can enforce security policies and remotely wipe or quarantine compromised devices. 7. Conduct regular security assessments of mobile and IoT device fleets to identify vulnerable versions and plan upgrades or replacements accordingly.