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Hdf5Application · Hdfgroup

CVE-2024-32611

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-14
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 may use an uninitialized value in H5A__attr_release_table in H5Aint.c.

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

The HDF5 Library through 1.14.3 contains a vulnerability in H5A__attr_release_table function in H5Aint.c where an uninitialized value is used, leading to undefined behavior that could potentially be exploited for memory corruption or arbitrary code execution given the critical CVSS score.

MitigationUpdate HDF5 Library to version 1.14.4 or later when available; until then, audit all applications and systems using this library and consider compensating controls such as network segmentation given the critical severity.

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 installed HDF5 library version
    Run 'h5dump --version' or 'h5ls --version' if HDF5 command-line tools are installed; alternatively, check the shared library version with 'ldconfig -p | grep libhdf5' or inspect the library file properties
    Affected if The reported version is below 1.14.4 (e.g., 1.14.3, 1.14.2, 1.14.1, etc.)
  2. Locate HDF5 library files on the system
    Search for libhdf5 files using 'find /usr -name "*hdf5*" 2>/dev/null' or check common library directories like /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib, /opt
    Affected if Any HDF5 library file found is version 1.14.3 or earlier based on the file name or metadata
  3. Identify applications or scripts linking to HDF5
    Run 'ldd' on suspected binaries or use 'grep -r "libhdf5" /proc/*/maps 2>/dev/null' to find running processes that have loaded the library; also check build configuration files (Makefile, CMakeLists.txt) for HDF5 dependencies
    Affected if Any application is dynamically linked to a vulnerable HDF5 library version (below 1.14.4)
  4. Check for HDF5 usage in Python environments
    If Python is used, run 'python -c "import h5py; print(h5py.__version__)"' or 'python -c "import hdf5; print(hdf5.__version__)"' to check the HDF5 library version bound to the Python package
    Affected if The HDF5 version reported through Python bindings is below 1.14.4

The environment is affected if any installed HDF5 library version is found to be below 1.14.4 and any application actively uses that library to process HDF5 files or data.

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

Update HDF5 Library to version 1.14.4 or later when available; until then, audit all applications and systems using this library and consider compensating controls such as network segmentation given the critical severity.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.14.4

  1. 1. Identify all systems and applications that depend on the vulnerable HDF5 library version < 1.14.4
  2. 2. Back up current HDF5 data files and configurations before upgrading
  3. 3. Obtain HDF5 version 1.14.4 or later from the official source at www.hdfgroup.org or trusted package repositories
  4. 4. Install HDF5 1.14.4 using your preferred method: compile from source, or use system package manager (apt, yum, brew, etc.)
  5. 5. Rebuild any applications statically linked against the old HDF5 library to ensure they use the updated version
  6. 6. Verify the installation by running `h5dump --version` or checking the library version programmatically
  7. 7. Test critical HDF5-dependent applications to confirm functionality is preserved
Caveat Minor version upgrade within 1.14.x series typically has minimal breaking changes; however, recompile statically-linked applications

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

Fix this in Hdf5 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,840
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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-2024-32611 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
  • 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