CVE-2024-38346
RCE in Apache Cloudstack 4.0.0 – 4.18.2.1
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-38346 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Apache Cloudstack. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 13% 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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.
CVE-2024-38346 affects Apache CloudStack, specifically its cluster service that listens on an unauthenticated TCP port (default 9090). The service allows execution of arbitrary commands against hypervisors and management-server hosts; several of those commands contain injection flaws (CWE-94) that permit arbitrary code execution by agents that may run with elevated privileges on the target hosts.
An attacker with network reachability to the unauthenticated port can submit crafted requests that trigger remote code execution on any CloudStack-managed host, resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the infrastructure. No authentication or user interaction is required, consistent with the CVSS 9.8 rating.
Advisories recommend immediately restricting inbound access to port 9090 so that only peer CloudStack management servers may connect, and upgrading to version 4.18.2.1, 4.19.0.2, or later.
The EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.0503 on 2025-12-18 before receding to the current value of 0.0223, indicating that exploitation interest increased after public disclosure.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-37272
Vulnerability Data
The CloudStack cluster service runs on unauthenticated port (default 9090) that can be misused to run arbitrary commands on targeted hypervisors and CloudStack management server hosts. Some of these commands were found to have command injection vulnerabilities that can result…
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in arbitrary code execution via agents on the hosts that may run as a privileged user. An attacker that can reach the cluster service on the unauthenticated port (default 9090), can exploit this to perform remote code execution on CloudStack managed hosts and result in complete compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of CloudStack managed infrastructure. Users are recommended to restrict the network access to the cluster service port (default 9090) on a CloudStack management server host to only its peer CloudStack management server hosts. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.18.2.1, 4.19.0.2 or later, which addresses this issue.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.3.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.
Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.
Least privilege limits the damage an injected code fragment can perform once executed.
Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.
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's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).
PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.
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.
Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.
Controls that restrict unauthorized or malicious code from being introduced via external networks or removable media limit opportunities for an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code.