Huawei Matebook X Pro

Huawei has had a rough few months; it even sued the US government recently over accusations its products couldn't be trusted. Now the Chinese company is contending with buggy software shipping on its MateBook range of laptops.

As ZDNet reports, researchers at Microsoft discovered the Huawei PCManager driver that ships with MateBook laptops presented a serious security risk. The flaw allowed an attacker to create a malicious version of the executable MateBookService.exe, which could then be used to gain elevated system privileges. If that happens, the machine can be compromised and controlled by an attacker.

Microsoft detected the security flaw thanks to new kernel sensors it implemented as part of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809). The sensors are designed to detect malicious code running in the kernel to stop a WannaCry-level security compromise from happening again.

Huawei's driver utility was flagged by the new sensors and reported to Microsoft through Microsoft Defender ATP. The ATP team then reverse-engineered the driver to figure out what it was doing. It turns out the flaw could be exploited if a user ran a malicious app that created and ran the modified MateBookService.exe.

MateBook owners can relax because the security flaw was patched in January after Microsoft informed Huawei of the problem. But it's embarrassing for Huawei and does little to help its argument that Huawei products are secure. For users, this is yet another reminder that security software is a must, regardless of which laptop or desktop you own.