CVE-2026-101174 in HarmonyOS
Summary
by MITRE • 11/02/2026
DoS vulnerability in the DSoftBus module. Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect availability.
VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.
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 ecosystem such as HarmonyOS or similar distributed architectures. This module serves as the backbone for establishing connections between nearby devices, managing service discovery, and handling data transmission over various transport layers including Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth Low Energy, and wired interfaces like USB. The presence of a DoS flaw within this component suggests that the underlying implementation fails to adequately validate input parameters or manage resource allocation during specific operational sequences, allowing an attacker to trigger conditions that exhaust system resources such as memory buffers, CPU cycles, or network sockets without requiring authentication in many scenarios involving local proximity attacks.
From a technical perspective, vulnerabilities of this nature typically stem from improper error handling, race conditions, or infinite loops within the packet parsing logic of the DSoftBus module. An attacker can craft maliciously formatted service discovery packets or connection requests that cause the bus manager to enter an unrecoverable state. For instance, sending a sequence of malformed handshake messages might lead to memory leaks where allocated buffers are not freed after processing, eventually leading to out-of-memory conditions. Alternatively, the vulnerability may involve logic errors in thread synchronization mechanisms, causing deadlocks when multiple concurrent connection attempts occur from untrusted sources. These flaws prevent the system from correctly terminating sessions or releasing network resources, thereby degrading performance until the service becomes completely unresponsive and requires a hard reboot of the affected device to restore functionality.
The operational impact of exploiting this vulnerability is primarily centered on availability, which aligns with the CIA triad's emphasis on maintaining access to information and systems for authorized users. In an enterprise or IoT environment where DSoftBus facilitates critical workflows such as screen mirroring, file transfer, or peripheral sharing, a successful DoS attack can disrupt business continuity by rendering connected devices unusable. This is particularly severe in scenarios involving smart home ecosystems or industrial control systems where device coordination relies on the continuous availability of these communication channels. Attackers could leverage this weakness to create persistent outages that force users into costly downtime for troubleshooting and system restoration, effectively turning a convenience feature into a significant operational risk vector.
In terms of industry standards classification, this vulnerability maps directly to CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, as the core issue involves the exhaustion of computational or memory resources due to insufficient limits on input processing. Furthermore, from an offensive security perspective such as MITRE ATT&CK, this behavior is consistent with techniques found under T1499: Endpoint Denial of Service, specifically those that target service availability through resource exhaustion rather than direct system crashes. Understanding these mappings helps in categorizing the severity and selecting appropriate defensive measures aligned with established cybersecurity frameworks.
To mitigate this risk, developers must implement rigorous input validation for all packets received by the DSoftBus module, ensuring that message sizes, types, and sequences conform to expected protocols before processing begins. Implementing rate limiting mechanisms can prevent attackers from flooding the bus with excessive connection requests or malformed data streams. Additionally, introducing resource quotas and timeout thresholds ensures that any single session cannot monopolize system resources indefinitely. Regular security audits focusing on memory management and thread safety within the distributed communication stack are essential to identify and patch such logic errors before they can be exploited in production environments.