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Hdf5Application · Hdfgroup

CVE-2024-32608

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.14.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
HDF5 library through 1.14.3 has memory corruption in H5A__close 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 · moderate confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability exists in the HDF5 library's H5A__close function (attribute close) through version 1.14.3. The flaw allows memory corruption that corrupts the instruction pointer, enabling denial of service and potentially arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade HDF5 library to version 1.14.4 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. Audit all applications and systems linking against the vulnerable HDF5 library version.

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
Hdf5Application
Affected:< 1.14.4

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify HDF5 library installation
    Run 'h5dump --version' or 'h5ls --version' if HDF5 tools are installed. Also check for libhdf5 shared libraries in common locations like /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib, or via 'ldconfig -p | grep hdf5'. On Windows, check Program Files for HDF5 installations.
    Affected if No HDF5 library is found - not affected. If found, proceed to version check.
  2. Determine installed HDF5 version
    Use 'h5dump --version' output, check the library file name (often includes version like libhdf5.so.1.14.3), or run 'pkg-config --modversion hdf5' if available. On Windows, check the DLL properties or the HDF5 installation directory for version information.
    Affected if Installed version is 1.14.4 or higher - not affected. Installed version is below 1.14.4 (including 1.14.3, 1.14.2, etc.) - potentially affected.
  3. Verify library linkage
    For applications using HDF5, check which library version they link against using 'ldd <application>' or by examining build configuration files. Applications dynamically linked to a vulnerable libhdf5.so version are affected when they call attribute operations.
    Affected if Application links to libhdf5 version < 1.14.4 - affected when attribute close operations are performed.
  4. Check for attribute operations in use
    Review application code or logs for use of H5A (attribute) functions, specifically H5Aclose, H5Acreate, H5Aopen, or similar. The vulnerability is triggered through the H5A__close function during attribute closure.
    Affected if Code or applications perform HDF5 attribute operations using versions < 1.14.4 - affected.

User is affected if HDF5 library version < 1.14.4 is installed AND any application performs HDF5 attribute (H5A) operations using that vulnerable library.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.14.4 or later
Fixed in 1.14.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade HDF5 library to version 1.14.4 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. Audit all applications and systems linking against the vulnerable HDF5 library version.

Recommended fix High confidence

HDF5 1.14.4

  1. 1. Identify all systems and applications that use the HDF5 library by searching for libhdf5 or hdf5 packages in your environment
  2. 2. Check the currently installed HDF5 version using: rpm -q hdf5 or dpkg -l libhdf5 or pip show hdf5 (depending on installation method)
  3. 3. Stop any running applications or services that depend on HDF5 to ensure a clean upgrade process
  4. 4. Upgrade HDF5 to version 1.14.4 using your package manager: For systems using package managers (yum/dnf/apt), run: sudo yum update hdf5 or sudo apt-get install libhdf5-1.14.4 (or equivalent). For Python installations using pip: pip install --upgrade hdf5==1.14.4. For source builds: Download from www.hdfgroup.org and compile with: ./configure && make && make install
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the installed version: h5dump --version or python -c import h5py; print(h5py.__version__)
  6. 6. Restart previously stopped applications and monitor for any compatibility issues
  7. 7. Rebuild any software that was statically linked against HDF5 to ensure it uses the updated library
Caveat This is a patch release (1.14.3 to 1.14.4) and should be backward compatible; however, any software statically linking HDF5 will need recompilation

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Hdf5 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2024-32608 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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