Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-57256 is a high-severity Integer Overflow or Wraparound (CWE-190) vulnerability in Denx U-Boot. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 30th 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 SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — 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.
CVE-2024-57256 is an integer overflow vulnerability (CWE-190) in the ext4fs_read_symlink function within Das U-Boot versions prior to 2025.01-rc1. The issue arises when processing a crafted ext4 filesystem featuring an inode size of 0xffffffff, which causes an overflow during a zalloc operation that adds one to an le32 variable. This results in a malloc allocation of zero bytes, enabling a subsequent memory overwrite.
Exploitation requires physical access to the target device (AV:P) and involves high attack complexity (AC:H), with no privileges (PR:N) or user interaction (UI:N) needed. The attack has a changed scope (S:C) and high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), scoring 7.1 under CVSS 3.1. A successful exploit could allow an attacker to overwrite memory, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or system compromise on affected U-Boot bootloaders.
Mitigation is addressed in a commit (35f75d2a46e5859138c83a75cd2f4141c5479ab9) in the U-Boot repository, which users should apply by updating to Das U-Boot 2025.01-rc1 or later. Announcements on oss-security (2025/02/17) detail the vulnerability disclosure, while Debian LTS tracking (2025/05) indicates backported fixes for affected distributions. Security practitioners should verify bootloader versions in embedded or boot environments and test crafted filesystem inputs during validation.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-4765
Vulnerability Data
An integer overflow in ext4fs_read_symlink in Das U-Boot before 2025.01-rc1 occurs for zalloc (adding one to an le32 variable) via a crafted ext4 filesystem with an inode size of 0xffffffff, resulting in a malloc of zero and resultant memory overwrite.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.2.6
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, unit tests) directly finds integer overflow defects before deployment.
Secure engineering principles require use of safe arithmetic constructs or language features that structurally eliminate integer overflow during calculation.
Input validation enforces bounds on values before arithmetic, stopping the conditions that trigger overflow or wraparound.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly require use of safe arithmetic, bounds checks, and testing that prevent integer overflows.
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.
Security testing in development can detect integer overflows before release.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and arithmetic checks that prevent integer overflows.
Application security requirements include bounds checking and safe arithmetic to avoid overflow conditions.
Secure architecture principles require defensive coding patterns that mitigate integer wraparound risks.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe integer operations and mandate overflow-safe constructs.