CVE-2024-55414
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 · uneditedA vulnerability exits in driver SmSerl64.sys in Motorola SM56 Modem WDM Driver v6.12.23.0, which allows low-privileged users to mapping physical memory via specially crafted IOCTL requests . This can be exploited for privilege escalation, code execution under high privileges, and information disclosure. These signed drivers can also be used to bypass the Microsoft driver-signing policy to deploy malicious code.
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 confidenceThe Motorola SM56 Modem WDM Driver (SmSerl64.sys v6.12.23.0) contains a flaw in its IOCTL handler that allows low-privileged users to map physical memory directly. This gives attackers kernel-level access, enabling privilege escalation to SYSTEM, arbitrary code execution, and information disclosure. The driver is signed, so it also bypasses Microsoft's driver-signing requirements, functioning as a Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) primitive.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the Motorola SM56 driver fileSearch for SmSerl64.sys on the system using: Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Windows\System32\drivers -Recurse -Filter SmSerl64.sys -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullNameAffected if The driver file SmSerl64.sys exists in the system drivers directory
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Check the driver file versionRight-click the driver file, select Properties, then Details to view the File Version field. Alternatively, run: (Get-Item 'C:\Windows\System32\drivers\SmSerl64.sys').VersionInfoAffected if The file version is 6.12.23.0 or any version that matches the vulnerable release
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Verify if the driver is currently loadedRun: Get-ProcessModule -ModuleName SmSerl64.sys 2>$null; or check loaded drivers with: driverquery /v | findstr -i SmSerl64Affected if The driver is loaded and running in kernel memory
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Check the driver service configurationRun: sc query SmSerl64 (or look for a service named similar to 'Motorola SM56' in services.msc)Affected if A service associated with the Motorola SM56 driver exists and is in a Running state
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Test IOCTL access (requires elevated privileges for full test)Use Sysinternals WinObj or check device object existence: open Device Manager, view show hidden devices, look under Non-Plug and Play Drivers for SM56 or similar entriesAffected if The driver exposes a device interface that low-privileged users can open and send IOCTL requests to
A system is affected if the SmSerl64.sys driver file is present with version 6.12.23.0 and is currently loaded or configured to run, allowing unprivileged users to access the vulnerable IOCTL handler for physical memory mapping.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataRemove or disable the Motorola SM56 modem driver if unused; if the hardware is required, apply any vendor updates or replace with a supported alternative; consider blocking driver loading via Windows Driver Policy or HVCI if the driver is not essential.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-55414 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-55414 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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