CVE-2020-9083

Vulnerability

A denial of service (DoS) vulnerability exists in HUAWEI Mate 20 smart phones running versions earlier than 10.1.0.163(C00E160R3P8). The flaw resides in the handling of text input. When a large amount of text is entered on the phone, the software fails to sufficiently verify the input parameters, leading to resource exhaustion [1].

Exploitation

An attacker with physical access to the device can exploit this vulnerability by entering an extremely large amount of text into an input field on the phone (e.g., via the messaging app, notes, or browser). No authentication or special privileges are required; the attacker only needs to interact with the phone's user interface to trigger the condition [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation causes the affected phone's service to become unavailable or degrade severely, resulting in a denial of service. The attacker disrupts normal phone operation, potentially preventing the user from using essential phone functions until the device is rebooted or the offending input is cleared [1].

Mitigation

Huawei has released a software update that resolves this vulnerability. Users should update their HUAWEI Mate 20 device to version 10.1.0.163(C00E160R3P8) or later, which is available via the official Huawei update channel [1]. There is no known workaround for unpatched devices.