Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-38068

DoS in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 r2

Published
09 July 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
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 0.025 83th percentile
Risk Priority 65 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-38068 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked in the top 17% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — 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.

Windows Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) Server is affected by CVE-2024-38068, a denial-of-service vulnerability in Windows that carries a CVSS 7.5 rating reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and no required privileges or user interaction. The weakness is categorized under CWE-400 and can produce a high availability impact while leaving confidentiality and integrity untouched.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can send specially crafted requests over the network to an exposed OCSP server instance, triggering resource exhaustion that renders the service unavailable. Because the attack requires no authentication or user interaction, any reachable Windows OCSP deployment is potentially exposed.

Microsoft has published an advisory for CVE-2024-38068 that outlines available patches and mitigation steps; the guidance is located at the Microsoft Security Response Center update guide.

EPSS scores for the issue have remained modest, with a recorded peak of 0.0758 and a current value of 0.0515.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Windows Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) Server Denial of Service Vulnerability

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-38027Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2024-35270Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2024-43515Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2024-38149Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2024-43506Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-36431Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-36579Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-38149Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21251Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21300Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1507
≤ 10.0.10240.20710
microsoft
windows 10 1607
≤ 10.0.14393.7159
microsoft
windows 10 1809
≤ 10.0.17763.6054
microsoft
windows 10 21h2
≤ 10.0.19044.4651
microsoft
windows 10 22h2
≤ 10.0.19045.4651
microsoft
windows 11 21h2
≤ 10.0.22000.3079
microsoft
windows 11 22h2
≤ 10.0.22621.3880
microsoft
windows 11 23h2
≤ 10.0.22631.3880
microsoft
windows server 2008
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
+4 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-5 directly limits the effects of resource-exhaustion events that constitute uncontrolled consumption.

SC-6 enforces explicit allocation limits on resources, structurally preventing the weakness from occurring.

Process isolation confines resource consumption to separate domains, reducing blast radius without stopping the root flaw.

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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

finds

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

finds

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

References