dbcve.org
LibreofficeApplication

CVE-2024-5261

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 24.2.4 or later.
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
Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in LibreOffice "LibreOfficeKit" mode disables TLS certification verification LibreOfficeKit can be used for accessing LibreOffice functionality through C/C++. Typically this is used by third party components to reuse LibreOffice as a library to convert, view or otherwise interact with documents. LibreOffice internally makes use of "curl" to fetch remote resources such as images hosted on webservers. In affected versions of LibreOffice, when used in LibreOfficeKit mode only, then curl's TLS certification verification was disabled (CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER of false) In the fixed versions curl operates in LibreOfficeKit mode the same as in standard mode with CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER of true. This issue affects LibreOffice before version 24.2.4.

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

LibreOfficeKit, a C/C++ interface for using LibreOffice as a library, disabled TLS certificate verification (CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER=false) when fetching remote resources like images via curl. This allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept HTTPS connections and inject malicious content. The vulnerability affects LibreOffice versions before 24.2.4 when used in LibreOfficeKit mode.

MitigationUpgrade LibreOffice to version 24.2.4 or later to restore proper TLS certificate validation. Third-party applications using LibreOfficeKit must update their LibreOffice dependency to the fixed version.

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
LibreofficeApplication
Affected:< 24.2.4

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 LibreOfficeKit usage
    Check for processes or applications that link to liblo-kit.so or LibreOfficeKit libraries. Look for lo-kit processes or grep for 'lo-kit' in running processes. Also check if third-party applications explicitly use LibreOfficeKit (the C/C++ interface).
    Affected if LibreOfficeKit (lo-kit) is actively in use by an application
  2. Check installed LibreOffice version
    Run 'libreoffice --version' or 'soffice --version' from command line. Alternatively, check the package version if installed via package manager (dpkg -r libobasis-* or rpm -qi libreoffice*).
    Affected if The version is below 24.2.4 (e.g., 24.2.3, 24.2.0, 7.x, etc.)
  3. Verify LibreOfficeKit is enabled in the build
    Check if the LibreOffice installation was built with LibreOfficeKit support. Look for liblo-kit.so in the installation directory (typically /opt/libreoffice*/program/ or /usr/lib/libreoffice/program/). Run 'ldd' on the lo-kit library if found to confirm it links to curl libraries.
    Affected if LibreOfficeKit library exists and is linked with curl (libcurl)
  4. Confirm remote resource fetching is occurring
    Monitor network connections or inspect documents being processed. LibreOfficeKit with remote image fetching enabled will make outbound HTTPS connections when processing documents containing external images. Check application logs for image loading activity.
    Affected if Documents processed via LibreOfficeKit contain or reference remote HTTPS URLs (images from web sources)

You are affected if your application uses LibreOfficeKit and the underlying LibreOffice version is below 24.2.4, and documents with remote images are processed.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 24.2.4 or later
Fixed in 24.2.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade LibreOffice to version 24.2.4 or later to restore proper TLS certificate validation. Third-party applications using LibreOfficeKit must update their LibreOffice dependency to the fixed version.

Recommended fix High confidence

LibreOffice 24.2.4

  1. Check your current LibreOffice version by opening LibreOffice and going to Help > About LibreOffice
  2. Download LibreOffice version 24.2.4 or later from the official website at www.libreoffice.org
  3. Backup any important documents or configurations before upgrading
  4. Close all LibreOffice applications and any related processes
  5. Run the installer for the new version, following the on-screen prompts
  6. After installation, verify the version by checking Help > About LibreOffice to confirm you are running 24.2.4 or later
  7. If using LibreOfficeKit in any third-party applications, restart those applications to ensure they use the updated library
Caveat Minimal - this is a security fix that restores proper TLS certificate validation; applications relying on the insecure behavior may need adjustment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Libreoffice Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,200
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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-2024-5261 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • 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