CVE-2024-55959
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 · uneditedNorthern.tech Mender Client 4.x before 4.0.5 has Insecure Permissions.
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 · low confidenceMender Client 4.x versions prior to 4.0.5 contain insecure file or directory permissions that could allow unauthorized users or processes to access sensitive configuration, credentials, or artifact data, potentially leading to privilege escalation or system compromise.
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
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
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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Identify installed Mender Client versionRun 'mender --version' or check the package manager (dpkg -l mender-client, rpm -qi mender-client)Affected if Version is 4.x and lower than 4.0.5
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Check Mender configuration directory permissionsInspect /etc/mender/ directory with 'ls -la /etc/mender/' - check if others or unnecessary groups have read or write accessAffected if Configuration files (mender.conf, certificates, keys) are readable by others or by groups other than root/mender
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Check Mender artifact storage directory permissionsInspect /var/lib/mender/ directory with 'ls -la /var/lib/mender/' - check ownership and access rights on artifact storageAffected if Artifact data or artifacts directory is world-readable or group-readable with weak permissions
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Check Mender binary and tool permissionsRun 'ls -la /usr/bin/mender' and check for any wrapper scripts or tools in /usr/share/mender/Affected if Binary is world-writable or has setuid without appropriate ownership restrictions
You are affected if Mender Client version is 4.x prior to 4.0.5 OR if sensitive Mender directories and files have overly permissive permissions (world-readable, group-readable, or writable by non-privileged users).
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Mender Client to version 4.0.5 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, review and restrict file permissions on Mender installation directories, configuration files, and artifact storage to minimum required access.
Mender Client 4.0.5
- Verify current Mender Client version using: mender --version
- Backup current Mender Client configuration directory (/etc/mender or /var/lib/mender)
- Update Mender Client package to version 4.0.5 using your package manager (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get install mender-client=4.0.5 or equivalent for your distribution)
- Verify the new version installed: mender --version
- Ensure Mender Client service is running: systemctl status mender-client or equivalent
- Confirm permissions on Mender configuration and data directories are correctly set (should be restricted to mender user, typically 0600 for config files and 0700 for directories)
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-55959 — 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-2024-55959 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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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.
- 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