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AnswerApplication · Apache

CVE-2024-40761

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-09-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.3.5 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Inadequate Encryption Strength vulnerability in Apache Answer. This issue affects Apache Answer: through 1.3.5. Using the MD5 value of a user's email to access Gravatar is insecure and can lead to the leakage of user email. The official recommendation is to use SHA256 instead. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 1.4.0, which fixes the issue.

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

Apache Answer uses MD5 hashing of user email addresses to generate Gravatar image URLs. Since MD5 is cryptographically broken and vulnerable to collision attacks, an attacker who observes the MD5 hash in the Gravatar request could potentially reverse or brute-force the original email address, leading to user email leakage.

MitigationUpgrade to Apache Answer version 1.4.0 or later, which implements SHA256 hashing for Gravatar URL generation instead of the insecure MD5 algorithm.

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
AnswerApplication
Affected:<= 1.3.5

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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. Determine Apache Answer version
    Check the version file or admin dashboard. Common locations: /version endpoint, docker image tag, or the 'version' field in the configuration file (often in /data/config.yaml or similar).
    Affected if The installed version is 1.3.5 or lower.
  2. Verify Gravatar integration is enabled
    Navigate to the admin settings panel and look for Gravatar-related configuration. Check if there is an option to enable or disable Gravatar avatars, and verify whether it is turned on.
    Affected if Gravatar integration is enabled in the system settings.
  3. Inspect outgoing Gravatar URL requests
    Monitor HTTP requests from the application or inspect the HTML source of user profile pages. Look for requests to 'www.gravatar.com' or 'secure.gravatar.com' that contain an MD5 hash in the URL parameter (typically format: /avatar/{hash}?s={size}).
    Affected if The application generates Gravatar URLs containing a 32-character hexadecimal MD5 hash.
  4. Confirm hash algorithm in use
    Capture a Gravatar URL from the application and verify the hash format. MD5 produces a 32-character lowercase hexadecimal string. Extract the hash from a profile avatar URL and confirm it is exactly 32 hex characters.
    Affected if The hash parameter in Gravatar URLs is a 32-character MD5 hash rather than a 64-character SHA256 hash.

You are affected if Apache Answer version is 1.3.5 or lower AND Gravatar is enabled, with MD5 hashes appearing in outgoing Gravatar URL requests.

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 a release after 1.3.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Apache Answer version 1.4.0 or later, which implements SHA256 hashing for Gravatar URL generation instead of the insecure MD5 algorithm.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.4.0

  1. Backup your current Apache Answer installation and database
  2. Stop the Apache Answer service
  3. Upgrade to version 1.4.0 or later
  4. Restart the Apache Answer service
  5. Verify that SHA256 is now being used for Gravatar avatar hashing instead of MD5

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

Fix this in Answer Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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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-2024-40761 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