CVE-2021-37111
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2021-37111 is a memory leak vulnerability affecting certain Huawei smartphones running HarmonyOS. Successful exploitation could lead to memory exhaustion, potentially causing device instability or crashes. This affects users of specific Huawei smartphone models with vulnerable HarmonyOS versions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Huawei smartphones with HarmonyOS
📦 What is this software?
Emui by Huawei
Emui by Huawei
Emui by Huawei
Harmonyos by Huawei
Magic Ui by Huawei
Magic Ui by Huawei
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete device instability leading to denial of service, potential data loss, or device becoming unresponsive requiring reboot.
Likely Case
Gradual performance degradation, app crashes, or system instability requiring device restart.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper memory management and timely patching.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation likely requires local access or malicious application installation. No public exploit code was widely reported.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: HarmonyOS security updates from October 2021 onward
Vendor Advisory: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/bulletin/2021/10/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Check for system updates in device Settings > System & updates > Software update. 2. Install available security updates. 3. Restart device after update completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Limit app installations
allOnly install apps from trusted sources like Huawei AppGallery to reduce risk of malicious apps exploiting the vulnerability
Regular device restarts
allPeriodically restart device to clear memory and mitigate potential memory exhaustion
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Monitor device performance and restart if experiencing memory-related issues
- Avoid installing untrusted applications and limit background processes
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check device HarmonyOS version in Settings > About phone > HarmonyOS version and compare with affected versions in Huawei security bulletinsCheck Version:
Settings > About phone > HarmonyOS versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify HarmonyOS version after update and ensure it's newer than affected versions listed in October 2021 security bulletins📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual memory consumption patterns
- Frequent app crashes
- System stability warnings
Network Indicators:
- No direct network indicators as this is a local vulnerability
SIEM Query:
Not applicable for typical SIEM deployment as this is an endpoint/device vulnerability🔗 References
- https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/bulletin/2021/10/
- https://device.harmonyos.com/en/docs/security/update/security-bulletins-202110-0000001162998526
- https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/bulletin/2021/10/
- https://device.harmonyos.com/en/docs/security/update/security-bulletins-202110-0000001162998526
