Confidentiality impact via facial input validation
Published Oct 14, 2022 · Updated May 15, 2025
Improper input validation in Huawei HarmonyOS 2.0 and EMUI 12.0.0 allows remote attackers to read data via the facial recognition module. The module accepts malformed or otherwise unverified input; Huawei has not disclosed the specific validation operation or request interface. Exploitation requires reachability to the device service, and the reported consequence is confidentiality loss without stated integrity or availability impact.
Summary
What happened
Improper input validation in Huawei HarmonyOS 2.0 and EMUI 12.0.0 allows remote attackers to read data via the facial recognition module. The module accepts malformed or otherwise unverified input; Huawei has not disclosed the specific validation operation or request interface. Exploitation requires reachability to the device service, and the reported consequence is confidentiality loss without stated integrity or availability impact.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-38985
- Published
- Oct 14, 2022
- Updated
- May 15, 2025
- Vendor
- Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Product
- HarmonyOS
- Classifications
- CWE-20
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 14, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 15, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo