Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-6563

Memory Safety in Renesas Arm-Trusted-Firmware

Published
08 July 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0021 11th percentile
Risk Priority 50 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-6563 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Renesas Arm-Trusted-Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 11th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input ('Classic Buffer Overflow') vulnerability in Renesas arm-trusted-firmware allows Local Execution of Code. This vulnerability is associated with program files https://github.Com/renesas-rcar/arm-trusted-firmware/blob/rcar_gen3_v2.5/drivers/renesas/common/io/i... https://github.Com/renesas-rcar/arm-trusted-firmware/blob/rcar_gen3_v2.5/drivers/renesas/common/io/io_rcar.C . In line 313 "addr_loaded_cnt" is checked not to be "CHECK_IMAGE_AREA_CNT" (5)…

more

or larger, this check does not halt the function. Immediately after (line 317) there will be an overflow in the buffer and the value of "dst" will be written to the area immediately after the buffer, which is "addr_loaded_cnt". This will allow an attacker to freely control the value of "addr_loaded_cnt" and thus control the destination of the write immediately after (line 318). The write in line 318 will then be fully controlled by said attacker, with whichever address and whichever value ("len") they desire.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
T1687 Exploitation for Defense Impairment Defense Impairment
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities in security software, infrastructure, or defensive components to degrade, disable, or otherwise continue to impair their ability to prevent, detect, or respond to malicious activity.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-6564Same product: Renesas Arm-Trusted-Firmware
CVE-2024-1633Same product: Renesas Arm-Trusted-Firmware
CVE-2024-6287Same vendor: Renesas
CVE-2024-6285Same vendor: Renesas
CVE-2024-45142Shared CWE-123
CVE-2024-36877Shared CWE-123
CVE-2024-2607Shared CWE-123
CVE-2025-9900Shared CWE-123
CVE-2025-14857Shared CWE-123
CVE-2026-43284Shared CWE-123

Affected Assets

renesas
arm-trusted-firmware
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and analysis can find missing size checks before deployment.

Input validation directly enforces size checks before buffer copies.

Memory-protection mechanisms block unauthorized writes to arbitrary locations even if a write-what-where primitive exists.

Engineering principles require bounds checking and safe buffer handling in design.

Process isolation confines the blast radius of an arbitrary write so it cannot affect other domains.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing unchecked buffer copies with corrected versions.

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.

prevents

Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect buffer overflows through fuzzing and static analysis, though it does not prevent them at the source.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates processes that can include input validation and bounds checking to prevent buffer overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input-size validation and safe buffer handling to mitigate classic buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles promote defensive coding patterns that reduce the likelihood of unchecked buffer copies.

prevents

Change management processes help ensure security fixes for such weaknesses are properly deployed.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-123
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-123
Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220727 Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) must be enabled. prevents CWE-123

References