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Stack-based Buffer OverflowWeakness · CWE-121

CVE-2024-51979

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
An authenticated attacker may trigger a stack based buffer overflow by performing a malformed request to either the HTTP service (TCP port 80), the HTTPS service (TCP port 443), or the IPP service (TCP port 631). The malformed request will contain an empty Origin header value and a malformed Referer header value. The Referer header value will trigger a stack based buffer overflow when the host value in the Referer header is processed and is greater than 64 bytes in length.

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

An authenticated attacker can trigger a stack-based buffer overflow by sending malformed HTTP/HTTPS/IPP requests containing an empty Origin header and a Referer header with a host value exceeding 64 bytes in length. The vulnerability exists in the request processing logic for all three services (ports 80, 443, and 631).

MitigationApply vendor patches or updates for the affected service. As an interim measure, implement input validation to reject Origin and Referer headers with oversized host values, and restrict access to these services to authenticated users only.

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 services running on affected ports
    Run 'netstat -tlnp' or 'ss -tlnp' to list services listening on ports 80, 443, and 631. Identify the product/service name (e.g., CUPS, Apache, Nginx).
    Affected if A service is listening on port 80, 443, or 631 and matches the vulnerable product family mentioned in the CVE (typically print/IPP related services)
  2. Verify authentication configuration
    Check the service configuration file (e.g., cupsd.conf for CUPS, httpd.conf for Apache) to determine if authentication is required for HTTP/HTTPS/IPP requests. Look for 'Require all granted', 'Allow from all', or disabled authentication settings.
    Affected if The service allows unauthenticated access or has weak authentication enforcement on ports 80, 443, or 631
  3. Inspect HTTP request logs for suspicious headers
    Review web server access logs and IPP print service logs for requests containing empty Origin headers and Referer headers. Search for pattern: 'Origin:' followed by empty value or 'Referer: http://' with host length exceeding 64 bytes.
    Affected if Logs show requests with empty Origin header combined with oversized Referer host values exceeding 64 characters
  4. Check for crash or overflow indicators
    Review system logs (dmesg, syslog, journalctl) and application error logs for segmentation faults, stack traces, or buffer overflow messages related to the HTTP/HTTPS/IPP service.
    Affected if Service crash logs, core dumps, or stack overflow error messages are present for the affected service processes
  5. Determine installed version
    Query the installed package version using the system package manager (dpkg -l, rpm -q, or pkg info) for the identified service (e.g., 'cups', 'apache2'). Compare against any vendor advisory version ranges if provided.
    Affected if The installed version matches or precedes the vulnerable version range referenced in vendor security advisories for this CVE

Your environment is affected if a print or HTTP service is running on ports 80/443/631, authentication is disabled or weak, and the installed version falls within the vulnerable range.

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 vendor patches or updates for the affected service. As an interim measure, implement input validation to reject Origin and Referer headers with oversized host values, and restrict access to these services to authenticated users only.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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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-2024-51979 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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