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Security Advisory - FRP Bypass Vulnerability in Huawei Smart Phones

  • SA No:huawei-sa-20161228-01-smartphone
  • Initial Release Date: 2016-12-28
  • Last Release Date: 2016-12-28

Factory Reset Protection (FRP) is a security method that was designed to make sure someone can't just wipe and factory reset the phone if user lost it or it was stolen. The FRP in some Huawei smart phones can be bypass. An attacker can bypass the FRP by special steps and wipe and factory reset the phone. (Vulnerability ID: HWPSIRT-2016-09024)

This vulnerability has been assigned CVE ID: CVE-2016-3889.
Huawei has released software updates to fix this vulnerability. This advisory is available at the following link: 
http://www.huawei.com/en/psirt/security-advisories/huawei-sa-20161228-01-smartphone-en

Product Name

Affected Version

Resolved Product and Version

P9

Versions earlier before EVA-AL00C00B352

EVA-AL00C00B352


[1] Smart phones will receive a system update prompt. The vulnerabilities will be fixed after users install the update.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability allows attackers to wipe and factory reset the phone.
The vulnerability classification has been performed by using the CVSSv3 scoring system (https://www.first.org/cvss/specification-document).
Base Score: 4.6 (AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) 
Temporal Score: 4.3 (E:F/RL:O/RC:C)
1. Prerequisite:
An attacker got phone because user lost it or it was stolen.
2. Attacking procedure:
An attacker can bypass the FRP by special steps and wipe and factory reset the phone.

Smart phones that support automatic update will receive a system update prompt. You can install the update to fix the vulnerability.

This vulnerability was reported to Huawei PSIRT by Tom Emmerson. Huawei would like to thank Tom Emmerson for working with us and coordinated vulnerability disclosure to protect our customers.
2016-12-28 V1.0 INITIAL

Huawei adheres to protecting the ultimate interests of users with best efforts and the principle of responsible disclosure and deal with product security issues through our response mechanism.

To enjoy Huawei PSIRT services and obtain Huawei product vulnerability information, please visit http://www.huawei.com/en/psirt.

To report a security vulnerability in Huawei products and solutions, please send it to PSIRT@huawei.com. For details, please visit http://www.huawei.com/en/psirt/report-vulnerabilities.

This document is provided on an "AS IS" basis and does not imply any kind of guarantee or warranty, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Huawei or any of its directly or indirectly controlled subsidiaries or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages. Your use of the document, by whatsoever means, will be totally at your own risk. Huawei is entitled to amend or update this document from time to time.