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The CVE-2025-54621 vulnerability is a failure issue within the `DetailDescriptionIterator` class of the Huawei WantAgent module. This component is responsible for processing and iterating over the descriptive parameters of an intent (Want) on HarmonyOS. The flaw occurs when handling specific, malformed sequences of intent parameters during iteration. An improper release or management of memory pointers within the iterator logic leads to a failure in freeing allocated memory blocks. When a specially crafted intent is parsed, the iterator’s cleanup routine does not correctly dereference and release one or more memory addresses. This results in a persistent memory leak, where allocated system RAM remains occupied even after the WantAgent operation concludes. Repeated exploitation by a local, low-privileged application can cause these memory release failures to accumulate, gradually consuming available system memory and potentially leading to denial-of-service conditions by exhausting resources on the affected device.
Platform: Huawei HarmonyOS
Version: Multiple Affected Versions
Vulnerability: Memory Release Failure
Severity: Medium
date: 2025-08-05
Prediction: Patch Expected 2026-Q1
What Undercode Say:
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adb logcat | grep -i wantagent adb shell dumpsys meminfo | grep <target_pid> strace -p <pid> -e trace=mmap,munmap
// Pseudo-code of flawed cleanup
void DetailDescriptionIterator_Cleanup(Iterator iter) {
// Missing null check or incorrect pointer arithmetic
if (iter->current) {
// Fails to release iter->current->next_node;
free(iter->current);
}
}
How Exploit:
- Craft malicious intent with nested, malformed description parameters.
- Pass intent to vulnerable WantAgent API (e.g.,
getWantAgent).
3. Trigger repeated processing via broadcast or service.
4. Iterator fails, leaking memory each invocation.
5. Monitor system memory depletion via `/proc/meminfo`.
Protection from this CVE
Apply official HarmonyOS security update from Huawei when released. Minimize installation of untrusted local applications. Monitor system memory usage for unusual consumption by native processes.
Impact:
Memory exhaustion leading to application or system instability and denial-of-service (DoS) for other processes.
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Sources:
Reported By: nvd.nist.gov
Extra Source Hub:
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