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OpenshiftApplication · Redhat

CVE-2024-45777

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.12 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A flaw was found in grub2. The calculation of the translation buffer when reading a language .mo file in grub_gettext_getstr_from_position() may overflow, leading to a Out-of-bound write. This issue can be leveraged by an attacker to overwrite grub2's sensitive heap data, eventually leading to the circumvention of 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 confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in grub2's translation handling code. The grub_gettext_getstr_from_position() function improperly calculates translation buffer offsets when parsing .mo language files, causing an out-of-bounds write that can overwrite sensitive heap metadata. This can be exploited to bypass Secure Boot protections.

MitigationApply the upstream grub2 security patch that adds proper bounds checking to the translation buffer calculation in grub_gettext_getstr_from_position(). Re-sign grub2 binaries if using Secure Boot, and verify the fix does not introduce regressions in localization functionality.

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
OpenshiftApplication
Affected:= 4.0
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
Grub2Application
Affected:<= 2.12

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed grub2 package version
    Run 'rpm -q grub2 grub2-efi-x64 grub2-common' on RHEL-based systems, or 'dpkg -l | grep grub' on Debian-based systems. Also check /boot/grub2/i386-pc or /boot/efi/EFI/*/grubx64.efi for binary version strings using 'file' or 'strings' commands.
    Affected if The installed version is 2.12 or earlier, or the package version is unknown/unavailable indicating an older installation
  2. Locate .mo translation files in grub's locale path
    Search for .mo files in typical grub translation directories: /boot/grub2/locale/, /usr/share/grub2/, or /boot/efi/EFI/*/locale/. Run 'find /boot -name "*.mo" 2>/dev/null' to enumerate loaded translation files.
    Affected if Any .mo translation files exist in grub's locale directories, indicating translation handling code is in use
  3. Verify Secure Boot is enabled
    Check system firmware status using 'mokutil --sb-state' or 'efibootmgr -v' and look for 'Secure Boot' flags. On Linux systems, check /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/SecureBoot-* if available.
    Affected if Secure Boot is enabled, as the vulnerability specifically enables bypassing this protection mechanism
  4. Confirm grub is used for system boot
    Verify grub2 is the active bootloader by checking /boot/loader/entries/ (Fedora/RHEL) or /boot/grub/grub.cfg for default entries. Also check EFI boot order via 'efibootmgr -v' to confirm grubx64.efi is in the boot sequence.
    Affected if Grub2 is the configured bootloader, making the vulnerability applicable to the system's boot chain

A system is affected if it runs grub2 version 2.12 or earlier, has .mo translation files loaded, uses Secure Boot, and uses grub2 as the bootloader.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.12
Interim mitigation

Apply the upstream grub2 security patch that adds proper bounds checking to the translation buffer calculation in grub_gettext_getstr_from_position(). Re-sign grub2 binaries if using Secure Boot, and verify the fix does not introduce regressions in localization functionality.

Fix this in Openshift Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,416.

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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-2024-45777 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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