CVE-2024-29163
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 · uneditedHDF5 through 1.14.3 contains a heap buffer overflow in H5T__bit_find, resulting in the corruption of the instruction pointer and causing denial of service or potential code execution.
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 confidenceHDF5 library through 1.14.3 contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the H5T__bit_find function. This memory corruption issue can corrupt the instruction pointer, leading to denial of service or potentially allowing arbitrary code execution.
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< 1.14.4CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the HDF5 library installationRun 'find /usr -name "libhdf5*" 2>/dev/null' or check your package manager (dpkg -l | grep hdf5, rpm -qa | grep hdf5, brew list hdf5)Affected if HDF5 library files are present on the system
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Determine the installed HDF5 versionRun 'h5dump --version' or check the library file version with 'ldd --version' or examine the library binary directly with strings/hexdump looking for version stringsAffected if The version displayed is 1.14.3 or earlier (any version below 1.14.4)
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Verify the H5T__bit_find function is presentCheck that the HDF5 library is compiled and includes the H5T (HDF5 datatype) functions - this is typically present in standard builds. Use 'nm -D libhdf5.so | grep H5T_bit_find' if the library is accessibleAffected if The library contains the vulnerable H5T__bit_find function and the version is < 1.14.4
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Check for untrusted HDF5 file processingReview any applications or scripts that process HDF5 files, particularly those that may receive files from untrusted sources or perform datatype bit operationsAffected if Your applications load and process HDF5 files and the library version is < 1.14.4
You are affected if your installed HDF5 library version is below 1.14.4 and you process HDF5 files using the H5T__bit_find functionality.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
dbcve · scoped1.14.4
Upgrade HDF5 to version 1.14.4 or later which contains the security fix. If immediate patching is not possible, consider restricting access to untrusted HDF5 files until the upgrade can be performed.
1.14.4
- Check the current HDF5 version installed in your environment
- Download HDF5 version 1.14.4 from the official HDF Group website (www.hdfgroup.org)
- Extract the downloaded archive
- Configure the build with appropriate options for your system (e.g., ./configure --prefix=/path/to/install)
- Compile HDF5 (make)
- Install the compiled version (make install)
- Rebuild any applications or libraries that depend on HDF5 against the new version
- Verify the installation by checking the HDF5 version matches 1.14.4
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,096.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-29163 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-29163 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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