CVE-2022-48613 in HarmonyOS
Summary
by MITRE • 11/08/2023
Race condition vulnerability in the kernel module. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may cause variable values to be read with the condition evaluation bypassed.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/05/2023
This vulnerability represents a critical race condition flaw within a kernel module that fundamentally compromises the integrity of conditional logic execution. The vulnerability arises from improper synchronization mechanisms during variable access and condition evaluation processes, creating a temporal window where malicious actors can manipulate system state to bypass intended security checks. The race condition occurs when multiple execution paths attempt to access shared kernel memory locations without adequate mutual exclusion controls, allowing for unpredictable behavior that can be exploited to manipulate conditional evaluations. Such vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous in kernel space environments where they can undermine the fundamental security model of the operating system. The technical nature of this flaw aligns with CWE-362 which specifically addresses race conditions in concurrent programming contexts. From an operational perspective, successful exploitation could enable attackers to bypass security controls, potentially leading to privilege escalation or arbitrary code execution within kernel space. The vulnerability demonstrates how insufficient atomicity in kernel operations can create persistent security weaknesses that are difficult to detect and remediate.
The operational impact of this race condition extends beyond simple bypass scenarios to encompass potential system instability and security policy violations. Attackers can exploit the temporal inconsistency in variable reading and condition evaluation to manipulate system behavior in ways that were not anticipated by the original security design. This particular vulnerability affects the kernel module's ability to maintain consistent state during critical operations, creating opportunities for attackers to inject malicious logic or manipulate access controls. The condition evaluation bypass represents a fundamental failure in the kernel's integrity checking mechanisms, potentially allowing unauthorized access to protected resources or execution of privileged operations. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers local privilege escalation through race conditions and similar temporal exploits. The impact is particularly severe because kernel-level race conditions can persist across system reboots and are often difficult to detect through standard monitoring mechanisms, making them ideal candidates for stealthy persistence mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both the immediate kernel module exposure and broader system security posture. The primary remediation involves implementing proper synchronization primitives such as mutexes, semaphores, or atomic operations to ensure that variable access and condition evaluation occur atomically. System administrators should prioritize applying vendor patches and updates that address the specific race condition in the affected kernel module. Additionally, implementing kernel hardening measures such as stack canaries, control flow integrity protections, and runtime monitoring can help detect and prevent exploitation attempts. The solution approach should incorporate defensive programming practices that eliminate the race condition window through proper locking mechanisms or redesign of the affected code paths. Regular security assessments and kernel module auditing should be conducted to identify similar temporal inconsistencies that may exist in other system components. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems specifically designed to monitor for kernel-level anomalies that could indicate exploitation attempts. The remediation process requires careful consideration of performance implications since excessive locking can impact system responsiveness, but the security benefits of eliminating race conditions far outweigh potential performance trade-offs in production environments.