CVE-2024-5594
Published: 06 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2024-5594 is a critical-severity Improper Validation of Specified Type of Input (CWE-1287) vulnerability in Openvpn Openvpn. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Transmitted Data Manipulation (T1565.002); ranked in the top 48.5% 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mitigates the vulnerability by requiring timely remediation of the improper sanitization flaw in OpenVPN through patching to version 2.6.11 or later.
Addresses the root cause of CWE-1287 by enforcing information input validation mechanisms on PUSH_REPLY messages to prevent arbitrary data injection into client logs.
Protects client audit logs from unauthorized modification and poisoning by arbitrary data injected via malicious PUSH_REPLY messages.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vuln enables server-controlled arbitrary data injection into client logs, directly facilitating transmitted data manipulation (T1565.002) and log-based indicator removal or integrity disruption (T1070).
NVD Description
OpenVPN before 2.6.11 does not santize PUSH_REPLY messages properly which an attacker controlling the server can use to inject unexpected arbitrary data ending up in client logs.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2024-5594 is a vulnerability in OpenVPN versions prior to 2.6.11 that stems from improper sanitization of PUSH_REPLY messages. An attacker controlling the OpenVPN server can exploit this flaw to inject unexpected arbitrary data, which ends up in the client logs. The issue is classified under CWE-1287 (Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N), indicating critical severity due to high impacts on confidentiality and integrity.
The attack requires an adversary to control the OpenVPN server, with no privileges, user interaction, or special conditions needed beyond network access. Exploitation allows the injection of arbitrary data into client-side logs, potentially enabling log poisoning, exposure of sensitive information through crafted payloads, or disruption of log integrity for forensic analysis.
Advisories recommend upgrading to OpenVPN 2.6.11 or later to mitigate the vulnerability, as detailed in the official OpenVPN wiki at https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/CVE-2024-5594. Additional guidance appears in the OpenVPN users mailing list at https://www.mail-archive.com/openvpn-users@lists.sourceforge.net/msg07634.html and Debian LTS announcement at https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00005.html, which cover patched packages for affected distributions.
Details
- CWE(s)