CVE-2024-57262

High

Published: 19 February 2025

Published

19 February 2025

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 7.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0002 6.4th percentile

Risk Priority 14 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-57262 is a high-severity Integer Overflow or Wraparound (CWE-190) vulnerability in Pengutronix (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Replication Through Removable Media (T1091); ranked at the 6.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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-16 (Memory Protection).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Replication Through Removable Media (T1091). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Directly remediates the integer overflow in ext4fs_read_symlink by applying patches from barebox 2025.01.0 or later.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Requires validation of ext4 filesystem inputs like inode sizes to prevent integer overflows and unsafe zero-byte allocations.

SI-16 Memory Protection good match

prevent

Implements memory protections such as DEP and ASLR to mitigate memory overwrites from the zero-sized malloc exploitation.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1091 Replication Through Removable Media Lateral Movement

Adversaries may move onto systems, possibly those on disconnected or air-gapped networks, by copying malware to removable media and taking advantage of Autorun features when the media is inserted into a system and executes.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Integer overflow in ext4 FS parser (barebox bootloader) enables memory corruption via crafted removable media filesystem, directly facilitating delivery/execution through removable media.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

In barebox before 2025.01.0, ext4fs_read_symlink has an integer overflow 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, a related…

issue to CVE-2024-57256.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2024-57262 is an integer overflow vulnerability in the ext4fs_read_symlink function of barebox, affecting versions prior to 2025.01.0. The issue occurs when processing a crafted ext4 filesystem with an inode size of 0xffffffff, an le32 variable. Adding one to this value triggers an overflow in the zalloc call, resulting in a malloc of zero bytes and a subsequent memory overwrite. This flaw is classified under CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1.

Exploitation requires physical access to the target system (AV:P) and involves high attack complexity (AC:H), with no privileges (PR:N) or user interaction (UI:N) needed. Successful exploitation changes scope (S:C) and can lead to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts (C:H/I:H/A:H), primarily through the memory overwrite enabled by the zero-sized allocation.

Mitigation is addressed in barebox version 2025.01.0 via patches documented in the project's Git repository, specifically commits a2b76550f7d8 and a2b76550f7d87ba6f88a9ea50e71f107b514ff4e, which fix the integer overflow in ext4fs_read_symlink. Security practitioners should update to barebox 2025.01.0 or later and validate ext4 filesystems from untrusted sources.