CVE-2024-49138
Memory Safety in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2 ≤ 10.0.19044.5247
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-49138 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
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-2024-49138 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Common Log File System Driver. It carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 and is associated with CWE-122, indicating a likely heap-based buffer overflow that allows an attacker to corrupt memory and escalate privileges on an affected system.
A local attacker with low privileges can exploit the flaw without user interaction to obtain full control over the target Windows system, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Public exploit code has been published on Exploit-DB and PacketStorm, confirming the attack path is practical for anyone with local access.
Microsoft's advisory at msrc.microsoft.com details the issue and available patches, while CISA has added CVE-2024-49138 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, indicating confirmed in-the-wild exploitation. The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.8744 with a current value of 0.8695, reflecting sustained and substantial exploitation interest following disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-43765
Vulnerability Data
Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 10 December 2024
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.4.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.
Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.
Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.
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-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.
Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.
Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.
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 in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.
Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.
Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.
Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe techniques (safe functions, bounds checks) that prevent heap-based buffer overflows.
Change management ensures controlled deployment of fixes for discovered heap-overflow vulnerabilities.