Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-38072 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2016. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked in the top 19% 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-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — 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 Remote Desktop Licensing Service contains a denial of service vulnerability tracked as CVE-2024-38072. The flaw is present in the licensing component of Windows Remote Desktop Services and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, reflecting a network-reachable condition that requires no authentication or user interaction. The associated weakness identifiers are CWE-476 and NVD-CWE-noinfo.
An unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted network traffic to an affected system and trigger a crash or resource exhaustion in the licensing service, resulting in loss of availability while leaving confidentiality and integrity unaffected. Because the attack vector is rated as network and the complexity is low, remote exploitation is possible against any exposed Remote Desktop Licensing instance.
Microsoft’s security advisory at msrc.microsoft.com details the affected Windows versions and supplies the corresponding security updates that address the issue. Organizations are advised to apply the patches through normal update channels to eliminate the denial-of-service condition. The EPSS score has remained near 0.14 with only a negligible peak of 0.1436, indicating limited observed exploitation interest to date.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-37767
Vulnerability Data
Windows Remote Desktop Licensing Service Denial of Service Vulnerability
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.
Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.
Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.
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.
Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.
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.
Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.
Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.
Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.
Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.
Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.