CVE-2026-49308 in HarmonyOS
Summary
by MITRE • 08/17/2026
Permission control vulnerability in the clipboard module. Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect service confidentiality.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/17/2026
The identified issue resides within the clipboard management subsystem of the operating system or application, representing a critical failure in access control mechanisms that govern how data is shared between processes and users. Clipboard functionality inherently requires elevated privileges to read sensitive information such as passwords, financial details, or proprietary code snippets from other applications while simultaneously allowing write operations for user convenience. In this specific instance, the permission model fails to enforce strict isolation boundaries, allowing unauthorized entities to intercept clipboard contents that should remain private to their originating process. This flaw undermines the fundamental security principle of least privilege and violates expectations set by industry standards regarding data confidentiality in multi-process environments.
From a technical perspective, the vulnerability likely stems from insufficient validation checks when handling inter-process communication (IPC) requests related to clipboard operations. Instead of verifying that the requesting application has explicit permission to access the current clipboard buffer or specific types of content within it, the system grants read access based on flawed logic or missing security descriptors. This could involve a race condition where an attacker can inject malicious code into the clipboard before proper permissions are applied, or more commonly, a simple oversight in checking user context and process integrity during data retrieval. The absence of robust sandboxing for clipboard handlers allows lower-privilege processes to elevate their access implicitly by leveraging these misconfigured pathways.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe regarding service confidentiality. An attacker who successfully exploits this flaw can extract sensitive information stored temporarily on the system clipboard, including login credentials, encryption keys, personal identification numbers, and confidential business documents. Since users frequently copy and paste such data without realizing it remains in memory until overwritten or cleared, this exposure creates a persistent attack surface. The compromise of confidentiality extends beyond immediate data theft; it can facilitate further attacks by providing attackers with the context needed to craft targeted phishing campaigns or bypass additional authentication layers that rely on copied tokens.
This vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-200: Information Exposure and CWE-732: Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource, as it involves granting excessive access rights to a shared resource without adequate verification of user intent or privilege level. In the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this behavior maps directly to T1115: Clipboard Data, which describes techniques where adversaries use clipboard monitoring tools to harvest sensitive information from users' systems during active sessions. The exploitation does not require complex binary manipulation but rather relies on social engineering or background processes that silently monitor system events related to data transfer.
Mitigation strategies must focus on hardening the permission model for clipboard interactions and implementing stricter sandboxing protocols. Developers should enforce explicit allow-lists for applications permitted to access sensitive clipboard formats, ensuring that only trusted, high-privilege services can read content marked as confidential or containing specific patterns like credit card numbers or private keys. Additionally, introducing automatic clearing of clipboard data after a short timeout period reduces the window of opportunity for exploitation. Security teams should also implement monitoring solutions capable of detecting anomalous access patterns to clipboard APIs and apply patches that correct the underlying permission checks in the affected module as soon as they are available from the vendor.