Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-53984

Published
02 December 2024
Modified
15 April 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 4.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0039 32th percentile
Risk Priority 37 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-53984 is a medium-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 4.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 32th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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 SC-24 (Fail in Known State) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Nanopb is a small code-size Protocol Buffers implementation. When the compile time option PB_ENABLE_MALLOC is enabled, the message contains at least one field with FT_POINTER field type, custom stream callback is used with unknown stream length. and the pb_decode_ex() function…

more

is used with flag PB_DECODE_DELIMITED, then the pb_decode_ex() function does not automatically call pb_release(), like is done for other failure cases. This could lead to memory leak and potential denial-of-service. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.4.9.1.

CWE(s)
CWE-401CWE-755

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.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1489 Service Stop Impact
Adversaries may stop or disable services on a system to render those services unavailable to legitimate users.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-37284Shared CWE-755
CVE-2024-47489Shared CWE-755
CVE-2025-9437Shared CWE-755
CVE-2023-45820Shared CWE-755
CVE-2024-45038Shared CWE-755
CVE-2023-21408Shared CWE-755
CVE-2023-27595Shared CWE-755
CVE-2023-36933Shared CWE-755
CVE-2023-39341Shared CWE-755
CVE-2024-51502Shared CWE-755

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

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Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 1 hardening rule · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.

SC-24 Fail in Known State good match

Requires the system to fail to a known safe state on specified failures, limiting the impact of unhandled exceptional conditions.

SI-17 Fail-safe Procedures good match

Mandates explicit fail-safe procedures triggered by indicated failures, structurally preventing unhandled or mishandled exceptional conditions.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.

SI-11 Error Handling partial match

Requires generation of appropriate error messages on exceptional conditions, directly enforcing correct handling rather than silent or incorrect behavior.

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 directly enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development can detect unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.

A.5.37 Documented operating procedures partial match
degrades

Documented operating procedures may specify exception handling but do not guarantee implementation.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging captures unhandled exceptions, aiding detection but not preventing the weakness.

A.8.16 Monitoring activities partial match
finds

Monitoring can surface unhandled exceptions but does not enforce proper handling.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates memory-management practices that reduce missing-release defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify explicit memory-release rules, partially mitigating the weakness.

References