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Heap-based Buffer OverflowWeakness · CWE-122

CVE-2024-9632

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A flaw was found in the X.org server. Due to improperly tracked allocation size in _XkbSetCompatMap, a local attacker may be able to trigger a buffer overflow condition via a specially crafted payload, leading to denial of service or local privilege escalation in distributions where the X.org server is run with root privileges.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in X.org server's _XkbSetCompatMap function due to improper allocation size tracking. A local attacker can craft a malicious payload to overflow the buffer, potentially achieving local privilege escalation or causing denial of service.

MitigationApply available patches for X.org server; if running X.org as root, consider implementing Xorg sandboxing or transitioning to a non-root display server configuration.

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check if X.org server is installed
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep xserver-xorg' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -qa | grep xorg-x11-server' (RHEL/CentOS) or check your system's package manager for xorg-x11-server
    Affected if X.org server package is found on the system
  2. Determine installed X.org server version
    Run 'Xorg -version' or check the package version from step 1, then compare to any published affected version ranges from X.org security advisories
    Affected if Installed version falls within an unpatched vulnerable range (if known)
  3. Verify X keyboard extension (Xkb) is active
    Check if X is running with Xkb enabled; examine Xorg log files (typically /var/log/Xorg.0.log) for 'XKB' or 'X Keyboard Extension' references, or run 'setxkbmap -print' to test if keyboard extension responds
    Affected if Xkb extension is loaded and active (required for the vulnerable _XkbSetCompatMap function to be reachable)
  4. Check privileges X server runs with
    Examine the X server process (run 'ps aux | grep X') and check if it runs as root or with elevated privileges; also check /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config (Debian) or similar configuration for allowed users
    Affected if X server runs as root or with elevated privileges (increases exploit impact for local privilege escalation)
  5. Review X server log for crash or overflow indicators
    Examine recent Xorg logs in /var/log/ for segfaults, buffer overflow warnings, or unexpected errors related to keyboard handling
    Affected if Any crash logs or security warnings tied to the compat map handling are found

A user is affected if they run an unpatched X.org server version with Xkb enabled, particularly as root, since the _XkbSetCompatMap buffer overflow becomes exploitable under those conditions.

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 available patches for X.org server; if running X.org as root, consider implementing Xorg sandboxing or transitioning to a non-root display server configuration.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,920
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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-2024-9632 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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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