Security Resilience

CVE-2024-20290

Memory Safety in Cisco Secure Endpoint ≤ 7.5.17

Published
07 February 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.33 98th percentile
Risk Priority 74 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-20290 is a high-severity Buffer Over-read (CWE-126) vulnerability in Cisco Secure Endpoint. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

A vulnerability in the OLE2 file format parser of ClamAV stems from an incorrect check for end-of-string values during scanning. This flaw produces a heap buffer over-read, which can terminate the scanning process. The issue affects ClamAV installations that process untrusted files containing OLE2 content and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger the condition by submitting a specially crafted OLE2 file to any ClamAV instance configured to scan incoming content. Successful exploitation causes the scanner to crash, producing a denial-of-service condition that also consumes system resources until the process is restarted.

Cisco and Fedora have published advisories referencing this CVE; operators should apply the updated ClamAV packages listed in those notices to eliminate the vulnerable parser code. The associated EPSS score reached a peak of 0.1035 but has since declined to 0.0859, indicating limited and waning exploitation interest after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the OLE2 file format parser of ClamAV could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to an incorrect check for end-of-string values during…

more

scanning, which may result in a heap buffer over-read. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted file containing OLE2 content to be scanned by ClamAV on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the ClamAV scanning process to terminate, resulting in a DoS condition on the affected software and consuming available system resources. For a description of this vulnerability, see the ClamAV blog .

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-20112Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20234Same product: Cisco Secure Endpoint
CVE-2023-4427Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-32658Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-4135Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-41359Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-1534Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-51791Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-39197Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-25569Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora

Affected Assets

cisco
secure endpoint
≤ 7.5.17 · 8.0.1.21160 — 8.2.3.30119
cisco
secure endpoint private cloud
≤ 3.8.0
fedoraproject
fedora
38, 39

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, bounds checking tests) directly finds buffer over-read flaws.

Engineering principles such as memory-safe design and bounds-checked abstractions structurally stop introduction of out-of-bounds reads.

Process isolation limits the blast radius of an over-read to the compromised domain.

Input validation enforces length and index constraints that prevent many externally triggered over-reads.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification processes can discover buffer over-read flaws via scanning or review.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Patching or replacing vulnerable software removes known instances of buffer over-read bugs.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure development practices directly prevent introduction of buffer over-read weaknesses.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

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References