CVE-2025-68956: Huawei HarmonyOS Race Condition Vulnerability

CVE-2025-68956 Overview

CVE-2025-68956 is a multi-thread race condition vulnerability in the card framework module of Huawei HarmonyOS 6.0.0. The flaw stems from improper synchronization of concurrent threads accessing shared resources within the card framework component [CWE-362]. Successful exploitation may affect device availability, leading to denial-of-service conditions on impacted HarmonyOS devices. The vulnerability requires local access with low privileges and high attack complexity, limiting the practical exploitation surface. Huawei has acknowledged the issue through its consumer, laptops, and wearables security bulletins.

Critical Impact
Local attackers with low privileges can trigger a race condition in the HarmonyOS card framework module, causing availability disruption on affected devices.

Affected Products

Huawei HarmonyOS 6.0.0
Huawei consumer devices running HarmonyOS
Huawei laptops and wearables running HarmonyOS

Discovery Timeline

2026-01-14 - CVE-2025-68956 published to NVD
2026-01-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-68956

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the card framework module of HarmonyOS, which manages service cards and related UI components. Multiple threads access shared state without adequate synchronization controls. An attacker with local access can race concurrent operations against this shared state to induce inconsistent behavior. The result is an availability impact, typically manifesting as a crash or unresponsive state in the framework process.

Because the race window is narrow, exploitation complexity is high. The attack does not require user interaction and runs within the scope of the existing process boundary, with no impact on confidentiality or integrity.

Root Cause

The root cause is a concurrency defect classified under [CWE-362] (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization). The card framework module lacks proper locking, atomic operations, or ordering guarantees when multiple threads operate on shared data structures. Inconsistent state transitions during overlapping operations corrupt internal data or trigger unexpected control flow.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local access to the device with at least low-privileged execution context. An attacker installs or runs code that repeatedly issues concurrent requests against the card framework. By timing thread interleavings to hit the unsynchronized code path, the attacker forces the framework into an inconsistent state. The card framework process becomes unstable, degrading availability of dependent services and UI surfaces.

No public proof-of-concept exploit is available, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Refer to the Huawei Consumer Security Bulletin for vendor-supplied technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-68956

Indicators of Compromise

Repeated unexpected crashes or restarts of the HarmonyOS card framework process
System logs showing thread synchronization faults or deadlock conditions within the card framework module
Unresponsive service cards or UI components following local application activity

Detection Strategies

Monitor application crash telemetry on HarmonyOS devices for recurring card framework process terminations
Audit installed applications for unsigned or untrusted packages that interact heavily with card framework APIs
Correlate high-frequency concurrent API calls to the card framework with availability events

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose logging on the card framework module to capture thread state transitions
Track device health metrics for HarmonyOS endpoints to identify abnormal restart patterns
Review mobile device management (MDM) reports for HarmonyOS 6.0.0 devices that have not received the latest security patch

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-68956

Immediate Actions Required

Inventory all Huawei devices running HarmonyOS 6.0.0 across the environment
Apply Huawei security updates referenced in the January 2026 security bulletins as soon as they are available for each device class
Restrict installation of untrusted third-party applications that can issue concurrent card framework requests

Patch Information

Huawei has published security advisories addressing CVE-2025-68956 across product categories. Consult the Huawei Consumer Security Bulletin, the Huawei Laptops Security Bulletin, and the Huawei Wearables Security Bulletin for device-specific patch availability and installation guidance.

Workarounds

Limit local access to affected devices by enforcing strong authentication and screen lock policies
Avoid sideloading applications from unverified sources until the security update is applied
Reduce concurrent workload on the card framework by minimizing the number of active service cards on impacted devices

bash

# Verify HarmonyOS version on affected devices
hdc shell getprop const.ohos.version
# Expected output should reflect the patched HarmonyOS build per Huawei bulletin