# CVE-2021-22479: Null dereference in HarmonyOS

> An invalid address access in HarmonyOS can cause a kernel crash, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 Feb 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-94q4-rgw4-95gr

## What is CVE-2021-22479?

CVE-2021-22479 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Huawei Harmonyos, published on 25 Feb 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The interface of a certain HarmonyOS module has an invalid address access vulnerability. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may lead to kernel crash.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-22479?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Huawei Harmonyos.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-22479?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-22479 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-22479 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-22479 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Huawei Harmonyos

- [CVE-2026-34865](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-34865/): Memory corruption in HarmonyOS (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-34157](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34157/): Other in HarmonyOS (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-41294](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41294/): Denial of service in HarmonyOS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-48478](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48478/): Denial of service in HarmonyOS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-48479](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48479/): Memory corruption in HarmonyOS (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-22479 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-22479 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Huawei Harmonyos, published on 25 Feb 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-22479 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Huawei Harmonyos. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22479/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22479/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-22479
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22479
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-22479

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22479/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.