CVE-2024-55511
Published: 16 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2024-55511 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Macrium Reflect (inferred from references). 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 25.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 CM-11 (User-installed Software) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2024-55511 is a null pointer dereference vulnerability (CWE-476) in Macrium Reflect versions prior to 8.1.8017. Published on 2025-01-16, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). The flaw arises from improper handling of a null pointer when executing a specially crafted executable.
A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability by running the crafted executable on a vulnerable system. Exploitation requires no user interaction beyond execution and low attack complexity, potentially leading to a denial-of-service via system crash or privilege escalation, with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Macrium Reflect addresses this issue in version 8.1.8017, as detailed in the vendor's update notes at https://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v8/v8.1.8017/details8.1.8017.htm. Further technical analysis and resources are available at https://github.com/nikosecurity/CVE-2024-55511.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-52785
Vulnerability details
A null pointer dereference vulnerability in Macrium Reflect prior to 8.1.8017 allows a local attacker to cause a system crash or potentially elevate their privileges via executing a specially crafted executable.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Null pointer dereference in local software enables crafted executable to trigger privilege escalation (or DoS).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mitigates the null pointer dereference vulnerability by requiring timely flaw remediation through patching Macrium Reflect to version 8.1.8017 or later.
Prevents local low-privilege attackers from executing specially crafted executables by prohibiting and controlling user-installed software.
Anti-malware mechanisms scan for, detect, and block execution of malicious crafted executables designed to trigger the null pointer dereference.