Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-54780

RCE in Netgate Pfsense Ce ≤ 2.8.0

Public PoCRCE
Published
14 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.12 96th percentile
Risk Priority 74 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-54780 is a high-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Netgate Pfsense Ce. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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 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.

Netgate pfSense CE versions prior to the 2.8.0 beta release and the corresponding Plus builds contain a command injection vulnerability in the OpenVPN widget. The flaw arises from improper sanitization of user-supplied input to the OpenVPN management interface, allowing arbitrary commands to be passed via the remipp parameter and falling under CWE-94. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8 with a network attack vector and low complexity.

An authenticated attacker can exploit the weakness remotely by submitting crafted input through the affected widget, resulting in execution of arbitrary OpenVPN management commands that may fully compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the target system.

The Netgate advisory at the provided reference URL outlines important security updates released for pfSense Plus 24.11 and CE 2.7.2, while the accompanying technical blog post examines the command injection path in conjunction with related XSS issues that can lead to cloud hijacking.

The associated EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a recorded peak of 0.0805, indicating that exploitation interest emerged after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Netgate pfSense CE (prior to 2.8.0 beta release) and corresponding Plus builds are vulnerable to command injection in the OpenVPN widget due to improper sanitization of user-supplied input to the OpenVPN management interface. An authenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability…

more

by injecting arbitrary OpenVPN management commands via the remipp parameter.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.002 AppleScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.005 Visual Basic Execution
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution.
T1059.006 Python Execution
Adversaries may abuse Python commands and scripts for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-54779Same product: Netgate Pfsense Ce
CVE-2024-57273Same product: Netgate Pfsense Ce
CVE-2023-42326Same product: Netgate Pfsense Plus
CVE-2023-48123Same product: Netgate Pfsense Plus
CVE-2026-1340Shared CWE-94
CVE-2024-54724Shared CWE-94
CVE-2013-3906Shared CWE-94
CVE-2023-25261Shared CWE-94
CVE-2026-16144Shared CWE-94
CVE-2026-41196Shared CWE-94

Affected Assets

netgate
pfsense ce
≤ 2.8.0
netgate
pfsense plus
≤ 25.03

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • 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 mostly match
prevents

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 none match
prevents

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.

prevents

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.

none

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.

References