dbcve.org
Incorrect Default PermissionsWeakness · CWE-276

CVE-2024-49504

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v4.0 Published 2024-11-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
75/100
Remediation priority · High
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
grub2 allowed attackers with access to the grub shell to access files on the encrypted disks.

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 · moderate confidence

grub2 contains a vulnerability that allows an attacker with physical access to the grub shell (accessible during boot) to bypass disk encryption protections and read files from encrypted disks without needing the encryption passphrase.

MitigationApply the grub2 security update when available. Limit physical access to systems and consider additional security controls such as TPM-based full-disk encryption with measured boot to prevent unauthorized grub shell access.

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
Physical
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:P/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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 grub2 installation and version
    Run 'rpm -q grub2' or 'dpkg -l | grep grub2' depending on your Linux distribution. For source-based systems, check /boot/grub2 or /boot/grub directory contents.
    Affected if grub2 is installed and the version falls within the affected range (compare to vendor security advisories for CVE-2024-49504).
  2. Check for encrypted disk configurations
    Run 'cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sdX' or check /etc/crypttab for LUKS-encrypted partitions. Also inspect /boot for encrypted volumes.
    Affected if Encrypted partitions (LUKS, dm-crypt) are present and configured to unlock via grub.
  3. Verify grub can access disks without authentication
    During boot, attempt to access the grub command line (press ESC or hold Shift at boot). Check if 'ls' or 'cryptomount' commands can enumerate or access encrypted volumes without entering a passphrase.
    Affected if grub shell permits reading from encrypted disks or executing 'cryptomount' without requiring passphrase authentication.
  4. Check for authenticated grub encryption module
    Inspect /boot/grub2/i386-pc/ or /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/ for the 'cryptodisk' module. Examine grub.cfg for 'cryptomount' usage and whether authentication is enforced.
    Affected if The cryptodisk module is loaded but does not enforce passphrase verification before accessing encrypted volumes.

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable grub2 version with encrypted disk configurations accessible through the grub shell without passphrase verification.

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

Apply the grub2 security update when available. Limit physical access to systems and consider additional security controls such as TPM-based full-disk encryption with measured boot to prevent unauthorized grub shell access.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-49504 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-49504 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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