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Hdf5Application · Hdfgroup

CVE-2024-32623

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.14.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 contains a heap-based buffer overflow in H5VM_array_fill in H5VM.c (called from H5S_select_elements in H5Spoint.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 · high confidence

Heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in HDF5 Library's H5VM_array_fill function in H5VM.c (called from H5S_select_elements in H5Spoint.c) allows memory corruption through improper bounds checking when filling arrays with selected elements.

MitigationUpdate HDF5 Library to a version beyond 1.14.3 that contains the patched H5VM_array_fill function with proper bounds validation; validate and sanitize any H5S_select_elements input parameters before use.

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 version
    Run 'h5dump --version' or check your application's linked HDF5 library version using 'ldd' or checking the shared object. For source installations, check the H5public.h header for H5_VERSION_NUM.
    Affected if The installed version is less than 1.14.4 (e.g., 1.14.3, 1.14.2, 1.10.x, etc.)
  2. Locate vulnerable source files
    Search for H5VM.c and H5Spoint.c in your HDF5 source tree or installed headers. Inspect the H5VM_array_fill function for bounds checking code.
    Affected if The H5VM.c source file present lacks proper bounds validation in H5VM_array_fill, or the version is from before the patch.
  3. Verify application uses H5S_select_elements
    Review application source code or trace execution for calls to H5S_select_elements API function, which invokes the vulnerable H5VM_array_fill code path.
    Affected if The application calls H5S_select_elements with element selections, which triggers the flawed array filling operation.
  4. Check for user-controlled element selections
    Audit code paths where H5S_select_elements is called and determine if the point coordinates/element indices come from untrusted input.
    Affected if User-supplied or network-provided data flows into H5S_select_elements without validation, enabling exploitation.

You are affected if your HDF5 library version is below 1.14.4 AND your application uses H5S_select_elements with potentially untrusted element selection 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 a version beyond 1.14.3 that contains the patched H5VM_array_fill function with proper bounds validation; validate and sanitize any H5S_select_elements input parameters before use.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.14.4

  1. 1. Check current HDF5 version by running `h5dump --version` or `pkg-config --modversion hdf5`
  2. 2. Download HDF5 version 1.14.4 or later from the official HDF Group downloads page (www.hdfgroup.org/downloads/hdf5/)
  3. 3. If using a package manager (e.g., apt, yum, brew), upgrade to the fixed version: on Debian/Ubuntu run `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libhdf5-dev`, on RHEL/CentOS run `sudo yum update hdf5`, or on macOS run `brew upgrade hdf5`
  4. 4. If building from source, extract the tarball, run `./configure`, `make`, and `sudo make install`
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking `h5dump --version` shows 1.14.4 or higher
  6. 6. Rebuild any applications that link against HDF5 to ensure they use the updated library
Caveat Review the HDF5 release notes for 1.14.4 to check for any API/ABI changes that may affect existing applications

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
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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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-2024-32623 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