CVE-2024-45776
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 · uneditedWhen reading the language .mo file in grub_mofile_open(), grub2 fails to verify an integer overflow when allocating its internal buffer. A crafted .mo file may lead the buffer size calculation to overflow, leading to out-of-bound reads and writes. This flaw allows an attacker to leak sensitive data or overwrite critical data, possibly circumventing secure boot protections.
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 confidenceGRUB2 fails to validate integer overflow when calculating buffer size in grub_mofile_open() while parsing language .mo files. A crafted .mo file can cause the size calculation to overflow, resulting in out-of-bounds memory read/write operations that may leak sensitive data or bypass secure boot protections.
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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify GRUB2 installationCheck for GRUB2 binaries: run 'ls -la /boot/grub2/' or '/boot/efi/EFI/*/grubx64.efi' on Linux systems, or 'grub2-install --version' / 'grub-mkimage --version'Affected if GRUB2 is installed and used as the bootloader
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Determine installed GRUB2 versionRun 'grub2-mkimage --version' or check package version with 'rpm -q grub2' / 'dpkg -l grub-pc'Affected if Version cannot be determined or is earlier than the patched version for this CVE
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Verify .mo language file support is presentCheck for language module files in /boot/grub2/*/locale/ or /usr/share/grub/*/locale/ and look for .mo files, or check if grub's gettext/localization is enabled in the configurationAffected if GRUB2 has .mo file parsing capability loaded or enabled in the configuration
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Inspect configuration for language/localization useExamine /boot/grub2/grub.cfg or /etc/default/grub for lines containing 'lang', 'locale', or 'insmod gettext'Affected if Language localization modules (.mo files) are configured or loaded by GRUB2 at boot
User is affected if running a GRUB2 version prior to the CVE-2024-45776 patch that contains vulnerable .mo file parsing code and has language/localization support enabled in the GRUB configuration.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply vendor patches for GRUB2 that add proper integer overflow validation in the .mo file parsing code; rebuild and re-sign GRUB2 binaries for Secure Boot environments before deployment.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-45776 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-45776 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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