Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-48615

Memory Safety in Libarchive ≤ 3.7.6

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
28 March 2025
Modified
14 April 2025
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 0.0050 40th percentile
Risk Priority 58 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-48615 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Libarchive Libarchive. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 40th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

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.

CVE-2024-48615 is a Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability (CWE-476) in libarchive versions 3.7.6 and earlier. The flaw manifests when running the bsdtar program, specifically in the header_pax_extension function located at archive_read_support_format_tar.c:1844:8.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating it is exploitable over the network with low complexity, no privileges required, and no user interaction needed. Remote attackers can trigger a denial-of-service condition with high availability impact, such as causing application crashes through malformed inputs.

References point to a GitHub crash-test repository demonstrating the issue and the source release tarball for libarchive 3.7.6, but no explicit advisories or patch details are detailed in the provided information.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability in libarchive 3.7.6 and earlier when running program bsdtar in function header_pax_extension at rchive_read_support_format_tar.c:1844:8.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
T1489 Service Stop Impact
Adversaries may stop or disable services on a system to render those services unavailable to legitimate users.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-1632Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2025-60753Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2024-48957Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2024-48958Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2023-30571Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2025-25724Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2024-37407Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2026-5745Same product: Libarchive Libarchive
CVE-2023-53336Shared CWE-476
CVE-2024-50238Shared CWE-476

Affected Assets

libarchive
libarchive
≤ 3.7.6

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

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.

finds

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References