CVE-2026-101173 in HarmonyOS
Summary
by MITRE • 11/02/2026
DoS vulnerability in the DSoftBus module. Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect availability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/02/2026
The identified Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability resides within the Distributed Soft Bus, commonly referred to as DSoftBus, a critical subsystem responsible for facilitating seamless communication and resource sharing across heterogeneous devices in an IoT or distributed computing ecosystem. This module typically handles the discovery, connection establishment, data transmission, and session management between various endpoints such as smartphones, tablets, smart displays, and peripheral devices. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of specific input sequences or malformed network packets directed at this service layer, allowing a remote attacker to trigger an exception condition that leads to process termination or system hang. Because the DSoftBus operates with high privileges to manage hardware resources and inter-process communication channels, its failure can have cascading effects on the overall stability of the device it resides on.
From a technical perspective, this flaw likely involves a lack of robust input validation or resource management within the message parsing logic of the DSoftBus module. When an attacker sends specially crafted data packets designed to exploit edge cases in buffer handling or state machine transitions, the service may enter an unrecoverable error state. This could manifest as infinite loops consuming CPU cycles, memory leaks leading to exhaustion of available heap space, or unhandled exceptions causing the daemon process to crash repeatedly. The operational impact is primarily focused on availability, meaning that legitimate users are unable to establish connections, transfer data, or utilize shared resources such as screens, keyboards, or cameras across devices. In severe cases, repeated exploitation might force a device reboot, disrupting ongoing workflows and potentially leading to data loss if unsaved operations were in progress during the crash cycle.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which describes Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, specifically where an attacker can cause the system to consume excessive resources or enter a loop that prevents normal operation. Furthermore, it maps directly to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499, Endpoint Denial of Service, under the broader category of Impact. Attackers may leverage this flaw as part of a larger campaign to disrupt critical infrastructure or specific application services without necessarily seeking unauthorized access or data exfiltration. The simplicity of exploitation makes it particularly dangerous in environments where devices are exposed to untrusted networks or public Wi-Fi hotspots, increasing the attack surface significantly.
Mitigation strategies should focus on hardening the DSoftBus implementation by enforcing strict input validation and sanitization for all incoming messages from remote peers. Developers must implement rate limiting mechanisms to prevent rapid-fire packet injection that could overwhelm processing queues. Additionally, incorporating watchdog timers or health checks can help detect when the service becomes unresponsive and trigger automatic restarts with minimal downtime. Network-level defenses such as firewalls should be configured to restrict access to DSoftBus ports only from trusted IP ranges within local networks. For end-users, applying vendor-provided security patches promptly is essential until a permanent code fix is released. Monitoring logs for unusual spikes in connection attempts or service crashes can also aid in early detection and response to potential exploitation attempts.