Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-25629

Memory Safety in Fedoraproject Fedora 38 … 40

Published
23 February 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0035 28th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-25629 is a medium-severity Buffer Under-read (CWE-127) vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora. Its CVSS base score is 4.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 28th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

c-ares is a C library for asynchronous DNS requests. `ares__read_line()` is used to parse local configuration files such as `/etc/resolv.conf`, `/etc/nsswitch.conf`, the `HOSTALIASES` file, and if using a c-ares version prior to 1.27.0, the `/etc/hosts` file. If any of these…

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configuration files has an embedded `NULL` character as the first character in a new line, it can lead to attempting to read memory prior to the start of the given buffer which may result in a crash. This issue is fixed in c-ares 1.27.0. No known workarounds exist.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-51791Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-22338Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-39197Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-42822Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-32459Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-25569Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-4427Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-0049Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-32041Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-32659Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora

Affected Assets

c-ares
c-ares
≤ 1.27.0
fedoraproject
fedora
38, 39, 40

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Vulnerability scanning can locate known buffer-under-read instances in deployed code.

Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, bounds checkers) directly finds buffer under-read flaws before deployment.

Security engineering principles require bounds-checked memory accesses and safe pointer arithmetic that structurally stop buffer under-reads from being introduced.

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and static analysis directly prevent introduction of buffer under-reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover buffer under-read flaws so they can be recorded and fixed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

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

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.

finds

Security testing can detect buffer under-reads before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that can prevent buffer under-reads.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify safe buffer handling and bounds checking.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and bounds-checking mechanisms.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require bounds checking and safe pointer arithmetic.

References