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CVE-2022-29796

7.5 HIGH

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in Huawei's HiAIserver allows attackers to compromise AI services by exploiting improper validation of model weights. It affects Huawei devices running HarmonyOS with vulnerable HiAIserver components. Successful exploitation could lead to service disruption or unauthorized AI model manipulation.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:
  • Huawei smartphones and tablets with HiAIserver
Versions: HarmonyOS versions prior to the May 2022 security updates
Operating Systems: HarmonyOS
Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes
Notes: Affects devices with HiAIserver component enabled (typically default on supported Huawei devices).

📦 What is this software?

Emui by Huawei

View all CVEs affecting Emui →

Harmonyos by Huawei

View all CVEs affecting Harmonyos →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete compromise of AI services leading to denial of service, data corruption, or unauthorized execution of malicious AI models.

🟠

Likely Case

Disruption of AI-dependent features and services on affected devices, potentially causing application crashes or degraded functionality.

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited impact with proper network segmentation and access controls preventing exploitation attempts.

🌐 Internet-Facing: MEDIUM - While the vulnerability affects AI services, exploitation typically requires local access or compromised applications.
🏢 Internal Only: HIGH - Devices within organizational networks could be targeted through lateral movement or malicious applications.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No
Weaponized: UNKNOWN
Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No
Complexity: MEDIUM

Exploitation requires local access or ability to interact with HiAIserver through compromised applications.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: May 2022 security updates for HarmonyOS

Vendor Advisory: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/bulletin/2022/5/

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Check for available updates in device Settings > System & updates > Software update. 2. Install the May 2022 security update. 3. Restart device after installation completes.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable HiAIserver (if not required)

android/harmonyos

Temporarily disable the HiAIserver component to prevent exploitation until patching is possible.

adb shell pm disable com.huawei.hiai

🧯 If You Can't Patch

  • Network segmentation to isolate affected devices from untrusted networks
  • Application allowlisting to prevent unauthorized applications from interacting with HiAIserver

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check HarmonyOS version in Settings > About phone > HarmonyOS version. If version is prior to May 2022 security update, device is vulnerable.

Check Version:

adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify HarmonyOS version includes May 2022 security patches. Check build number contains security patch level of 2022-05 or later.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

  • Unusual HiAIserver process crashes
  • Suspicious model loading attempts in system logs

Network Indicators:

  • Unexpected connections to AI service ports from unauthorized sources

SIEM Query:

process_name:"hiaiserver" AND (event_type:"crash" OR event_type:"unauthorized_access")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2022-29796
CVSS v3 Score: 7.5 (HIGH)
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published: May 13, 2022
Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

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