Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-38073

Memory Safety 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-2024-38073 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); 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 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.

This vulnerability is a denial-of-service issue, tracked as CVE-2024-38073, that affects the Windows Remote Desktop Licensing Service. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 and is associated with CWE-125. The flaw permits an unauthenticated network attacker to trigger a crash or resource exhaustion in the service without any user interaction.

An attacker with network reachability can send crafted requests that exploit the out-of-bounds read condition, resulting in high availability impact while leaving confidentiality and integrity unaffected. No privileges or special configuration are required, making the service reachable over the network the primary prerequisite for exploitation.

Microsoft’s Security Response Center advisory, published at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2024-38073, supplies the official guidance on available patches and mitigation steps. The associated EPSS score has remained essentially flat, with a current value of 0.0645 and a recorded peak of 0.0661.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Windows Remote Desktop Licensing Service Denial of Service Vulnerability

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-2024-38214Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2024-26226Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-54096Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-54095Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-55225Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-54097Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-49681Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-49657Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-50163Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
CVE-2025-32716Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2008

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows server 2008
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2016
≤ 10.0.14393.7159
microsoft
windows server 2019
≤ 10.0.17763.6054
microsoft
windows server 2022
≤ 10.0.20348.2582
microsoft
windows server 2022 23h2
≤ 10.0.25398.1009

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds 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 memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

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 in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects 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 development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References