Stack-based Buffer OverflowWeakness · CWE-121

CVE-2024-48871

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 affected product is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow. An unauthenticated attacker could send a malicious HTTP request that the webserver fails to properly check input size before copying data to the stack, potentially allowing remote code execution.

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 stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the webserver component where HTTP request input is not validated for size before being copied to a fixed-size stack buffer. An unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted HTTP requests to overflow the buffer and potentially achieve remote code execution.

MitigationImplement strict input length validation on all HTTP request parameters before copying to stack buffers, and apply any vendor security patches for the affected product. Consider deploying a WAF as a compensating control until the fix is fully deployed.

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 if webserver component is running
    Check for running webserver processes using commands like 'ps aux | grep -i web' on Linux or 'Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.ProcessName -match "web"}' on Windows, or check if ports 80/443 are listening with 'netstat -tulpn' or 'Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 80,443'
    Affected if A webserver component is actively running and handling HTTP requests
  2. Determine installed webserver version
    Run version check command specific to your webserver product (for example, 'nginx -v', 'httpd -v', 'apache2 -v', or check vendor documentation for your specific product). Compare the version number to any vendor-published affected version ranges.
    Affected if The installed version falls within an affected but unpatched version range
  3. Verify HTTP request handling is enabled
    Confirm the webserver is configured to accept HTTP connections by testing with a simple curl request: 'curl -I http://localhost/' or checking configuration files for enabled virtual hosts or server blocks.
    Affected if HTTP request handling is enabled and the webserver is accessible over the network
  4. Check for exploitation indicators
    Review webserver access logs for abnormal patterns such as unusually long HTTP request headers, repeated requests with excessive payload sizes, or signs of buffer overflow attempts (error 400 or 500 spikes, segmentation faults in logs).
    Affected if Logs show anomalous HTTP requests with oversized headers or payloads that could indicate exploitation attempts
  5. Verify network exposure
    Determine if the webserver is accessible from untrusted networks by checking firewall rules ('iptables -L' or 'netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all') and whether it binds to 0.0.0.0 versus localhost only.
    Affected if The vulnerable webserver is exposed to unauthenticated network attackers

A user is affected if they are running a vulnerable, unpatched version of the webserver component with HTTP handling enabled and network accessibility to unauthenticated attackers.

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

Implement strict input length validation on all HTTP request parameters before copying to stack buffers, and apply any vendor security patches for the affected product. Consider deploying a WAF as a compensating control until the fix is fully deployed.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
Get help mitigating

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2024-48871 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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