CVE-2024-56431
Published: 25 December 2024
Summary
CVE-2024-56431 is a critical-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Xiph Theora. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 5.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
The vulnerability is an invalid negative left shift in the oc_huff_tree_unpack function within huffdec.c of libtheora, affecting Theora releases through version 1.0 at commit 7180717. It is tracked as CVE-2024-56431 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 and is associated with CWE-863, though multiple third parties have disputed any actual security impact on the grounds that no application crash or other observable effect has been demonstrated.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can supply a specially crafted Theora stream or file to trigger the flaw over a network connection. Successful exploitation could result in full confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromise according to the CVSS vector, although the disputed status indicates that practical attack outcomes remain unconfirmed.
Public references include a proof-of-concept repository, the upstream source line, a GitHub issue discussion, and oss-security mailing list threads from April 2025 that examine the report. No vendor patches or explicit mitigation steps are documented in the available references. The associated EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.1491 with a current value of 0.1436, indicating moderate and relatively stable exploitation interest since disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-53141
Vulnerability details
oc_huff_tree_unpack in huffdec.c in libtheora in Theora through 1.0 7180717 has an invalid negative left shift. NOTE: this is disputed by third parties because there is no evidence of a security impact, e.g., an application would not crash.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Periodic review and update of procedures reduces incorrect authorization implementations over time.
Supervision identifies cases where authorization logic incorrectly permits unauthorized actions.
Defining permitted attribute values and auditing modifications reduces the chance of incorrect authorization outcomes due to tampered or missing labels.
The authorization process and usage restrictions help prevent incorrect authorization for remote access types.
Establishing configuration and connection requirements helps ensure correct rather than incorrect authorization for wireless access.
Establishing connection authorization processes for mobile devices helps ensure authorization decisions are correctly implemented rather than incorrect.
Monitoring account use, notifying on changes, and reviewing accounts for compliance corrects incorrect authorization assignments.
Ensures authorization decisions for external system use are correctly implemented and enforced.