Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-38353

MediumPublic PoC

Published: 10 July 2024

Published
10 July 2024
Modified
04 September 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0532 90.3th percentile
Risk Priority 14 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-38353 is a medium-severity PRNG (CWE-338) vulnerability in Hackmd Codimd. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 9.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis

CodiMD before version 2.5.4 contains a missing authentication and access control vulnerability that allows unauthenticated access to uploaded image data. The application does not require valid credentials to retrieve or upload images, and the underlying Formidable library uses insecure random filename generation that increases the chance an attacker can predict image URLs. The issue is tracked under CWE-338 and CWE-862 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.3.

An unauthenticated attacker who can guess or enumerate an image URL can retrieve the corresponding uploaded content without authorization. Because no authentication check is performed on image endpoints, the same weakness also permits arbitrary image uploads, exposing any previously stored image data once its filename is known.

The vulnerability is resolved in CodiMD 2.5.4, as stated in the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-2764-jppc-p2hm. The EPSS score remains flat at 0.0532 with no material increase after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

CodiMD allows realtime collaborative markdown notes on all platforms. CodiMD before 2.5.4 is missing authentication and access control vulnerability allowing an unauthenticated attacker to gain unauthorised access to image data uploaded to CodiMD. CodiMD does not require valid authentication to…

more

access uploaded images or to upload new image data. An attacker who can determine an uploaded image's URL can gain unauthorised access to uploaded image data. Due to the insecure random filename generation in the underlying Formidable library, an attacker can determine the filenames for previously uploaded images and the likelihood of this issue being exploited is increased. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.5.4.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
T1213 Data from Information Repositories Collection
Adversaries may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information.
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.
Why these techniques?

Missing authentication and access controls enable exploitation of public-facing application (T1190) for unauthorized image upload/access; facilitates collection from information repositories like collaborative notes (T1213); allows disk exhaustion DoS via repeated unauthenticated uploads (T1499.003).

Affected Assets

hackmd
codimd
≤ 2.5.4

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring an access control policy ensures authorization checks are defined and applied for critical functions.

addresses: CWE-862

Reviews of access controls detect missing authorization checks on critical functions or resources.

addresses: CWE-862

Documenting permitted unauthenticated actions prevents missing authorization by making all exceptions explicit and subject to organizational review.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring attribute association with information prevents authorization from being performed without necessary security or privacy context.

addresses: CWE-862

Mandating authorization prior to allowing remote connections addresses missing authorization for remote access.

addresses: CWE-862

Mandating authorization before wireless connections are allowed prevents missing authorization for wireless access.

addresses: CWE-862

The control requires authorization before allowing mobile device connections, directly mitigating missing authorization for system access.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring approvals for account creation and specifying authorizations ensures authorization is not missing for system access.

References