Hard-coded CredentialsWeakness · CWE-798

CVE-2024-27168

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
76/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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
It appears that some hardcoded keys are used for authentication to internal API. Knowing these private keys may allow attackers to bypass authentication and reach administrative interfaces. As for the affected products/models/versions, see the reference URL.

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 · moderate confidence

Hardcoded authentication keys are embedded in the application's internal API, allowing attackers who discover these keys to bypass normal authentication mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to administrative interfaces.

MitigationReplace all hardcoded keys with dynamically managed secrets using a secrets management solution (e.g., environment variables, vault, or key management service), rotate any exposed keys, and implement proper authentication flows.

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

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
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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. Search source code and config files for hardcoded authentication keys
    Use grep, GitHub secret scanning, or code analysis tools to search the application codebase, configuration files, and embedded resources for strings matching patterns of API keys, authentication tokens, passwords, or secrets (e.g., 'api_key=', 'authToken=', 'password=', 'secret='). Also inspect binary files if the application is compiled.
    Affected if Hardcoded authentication keys or secrets are found in the codebase or configuration files that could be used to bypass authentication.
  2. Review API endpoint authentication mechanisms
    Examine the application's API endpoints, particularly those related to administrative functions or internal services. Check if the API relies on embedded keys for authentication instead of dynamic credential validation. Review API documentation or captured network traffic for authentication header patterns.
    Affected if The internal API uses hardcoded keys embedded in the code rather than dynamic authentication, making it vulnerable to key-based bypass.
  3. Check administrative interface exposure
    Identify administrative or management interfaces (web portals, APIs, CLI tools). Determine if these interfaces are accessible over the network and if they rely on the same hardcoded keys for authentication. Verify if these interfaces can be reached from untrusted network segments.
    Affected if Administrative interfaces are accessible and use the hardcoded keys for authentication, allowing unauthorized administrative access.
  4. Compare installed version to vendor advisories
    Determine the installed application version using vendor documentation, application startup logs, or version reporting features. Check the vendor's security advisories or CVE references to confirm if the version falls within any affected range.
    Affected if The installed version matches a version range identified as vulnerable to hardcoded key authentication bypass.

The environment is affected if hardcoded authentication keys exist in the application code or configuration and those keys can be used to access internal APIs or administrative interfaces.

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

Replace all hardcoded keys with dynamically managed secrets using a secrets management solution (e.g., environment variables, vault, or key management service), rotate any exposed keys, and implement proper authentication flows.

Have this fixed 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-2024-27168 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data