CobaltApplication · Ashlar

CVE-2024-13045

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt AR File Parsing Stack-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of AR files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-24848.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow when parsing AR files. The application fails to validate the length of user-supplied data before copying it into a fixed-size stack buffer, allowing an attacker to overwrite stack memory and achieve arbitrary code execution through a specially crafted AR file.

MitigationUpdate to a vendor-provided patch that addresses the AR file parsing vulnerability. Until a patch is available, avoid opening untrusted AR files from unknown sources and disable file associations for AR files in the application.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
CobaltApplication
Affected:= 12.0.1204.90

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Ashlar Cobalt is installed
    Check for Ashlar Cobalt installation by looking in standard program directories or using system inventory tools to list installed software
    Affected if Ashlar Cobalt is present on the system
  2. Identify the installed version
    Open the application and check About/Version information, or inspect the application executable properties, or query the system for installed application version
    Affected if The version is exactly 12.0.1204.90 (no other version numbers)
  3. Confirm AR file handling is enabled
    Check if AR file association or file parsing for .ar extensions is active in the application settings, or simply note that opening any AR file triggers the vulnerable parsing code
    Affected if The application can process or has historically processed AR files, and the parsing feature is not disabled
  4. Locate AR file parsing module
    Inspect the application installation directory for any DLLs or modules related to AR file handling, or observe application behavior when an AR file is opened
    Affected if AR parsing modules exist and the application attempts to load and parse AR file contents

You are affected if Ashlar Cobalt version 12.0.1204.90 is installed AND the AR file parsing functionality is active or was used to open AR files.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to a vendor-provided patch that addresses the AR file parsing vulnerability. Until a patch is available, avoid opening untrusted AR files from unknown sources and disable file associations for AR files in the application.

Fix this in Cobalt Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-13045 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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