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Hard-coded CredentialsWeakness · CWE-798

CVE-2024-36496

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
The configuration file is encrypted with a static key derived from a static five-character password which allows an attacker to decrypt this file. The application hashes this five-character password with the outdated and broken MD5 algorithm (no salt) and uses the first five bytes as the key for RC4. The configuration file is then encrypted with these parameters.

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

The application's configuration files are encrypted using a static RC4 key derived from a hardcoded 5-character password hashed with unsalted MD5. Because both the password and encryption algorithm are static and cryptographically weak (MD5 is broken, RC4 is deprecated), attackers can easily derive the key and decrypt sensitive configuration data.

MitigationReplace the static password-based RC4 encryption with a modern authenticated encryption scheme (e.g., AES-GCM) using properly salted key derivation functions (PBKDF2, Argon2) and secure key management rather than embedded secrets.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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. Locate encrypted configuration files
    Search the application directory for config files (.conf, .cfg, .ini, .xml, .json, .yaml) and identify any that appear binary or encoded. Check application documentation or source code for references to encryption of config files.
    Affected if The application stores sensitive configuration data in encrypted files using a custom encryption scheme.
  2. Search for RC4 cipher usage
    Search codebase for references to RC4, ArcFour, or stream cipher implementations used for config encryption. Grep for 'RC4', 'arc4', 'Arcfour' in source files and libraries.
    Affected if RC4 cipher is used for encrypting configuration files.
  3. Identify hardcoded password or static key
    Search source code and configuration files for hardcoded passwords, static keys, or salt values used for encryption. Look for 5-character string literals that may serve as the encryption password.
    Affected if A hardcoded static password (5 characters) is embedded in the code or config to derive the encryption key.
  4. Check for MD5 usage in encryption context
    Search codebase for MD5 hash function calls that are used in conjunction with password-based key derivation. Look for 'MD5' in encryption/decryption routines.
    Affected if MD5 is used to derive encryption keys from passwords (without salt).
  5. Verify key derivation is unsalted
    Examine the key derivation function used with the password. Check if a constant salt value is used or if salt is omitted entirely from the hash operation.
    Affected if The password is hashed directly with MD5 without any salt (same password always produces the same key).
  6. Confirm config decryption is possible with static key
    Test whether you can decrypt an exported config file by computing MD5(5_char_password) and using the result as an RC4 key. If successful, the vulnerability is present.
    Affected if Encrypted config data can be decrypted using a key derived from a static password hashed with unsalted MD5.

A user is affected if their application uses RC4 encryption with a key derived from a hardcoded 5-character password via unsalted MD5 for protecting configuration files.

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 the static password-based RC4 encryption with a modern authenticated encryption scheme (e.g., AES-GCM) using properly salted key derivation functions (PBKDF2, Argon2) and secure key management rather than embedded secrets.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation20.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
42.0 hours of engineering $7,380
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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-2024-36496 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