NVD / CVE Program· CNA openssl

CVE-2024-4741: Use After Free with SSL_free_buffers

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 31/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 2.9% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 86.9% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
Fixed version: OpenSSL OpenSSL 3.0.14, 3.1.6, 3.2.2; azl3 edk2 20240524git3e722403cd16-6 on Azure Linux 3.0 20240524git3e722403cd16-6; azl3 edk2 20240524git3e722403cd16-8 on Azure Linux 3.0 20240524git3e722403cd16-6.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to OpenSSL OpenSSL 3.0.14, 3.1.6, 3.2.2; azl3 edk2 20240524git3e722403cd16-6 on Azure Linux 3.0 20240524git3e722403cd16-6; azl3 edk2 20240524git3e722403cd16-8 on Azure Linux 3.0 20240524git3e722403cd16-6 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Issue summary: Calling the OpenSSL API function SSL_free_buffers may cause memory to be accessed that was previously freed in some situations Impact summary: A use after free can have a range of potential consequences such as the corruption of valid data, crashes or execution of arbitrary code. However, only applications that directly call the SSL_free_buffers function are affected by this issue. Applications that do not call this function are not vulnerable. Our investigations indicate that this function is rarely used by applications. The SSL_free_buffers function is used to free the internal OpenSSL buffer used when processing an incoming record from the network. The call is only expected to succeed if the buffer is not currently in use. However, two scenarios have been identified where the buffer is freed even when still in use. The first scenario occurs where a record header has been received from the network and processed by OpenSSL, but the full record body has not yet arrived. In this case calling SSL_free_buffers will succeed even though a record has only been partially processed and the buffer is still in use. The second scenario occurs where a full record containing application data has been received and processed by OpenSSL but the application has only read part of this data. Again a call to SSL_free_buffers will succeed even though the buffer is still in use. While these scenarios could occur accidentally during normal operation a malicious attacker could attempt to engineer a stituation where this occurs. We are not aware of this issue being actively exploited. The FIPS modules in 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Published: Nov 13, 2024
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 2.9% · 86th percentile
CWE: CWE-416

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 1 / 30 · 2.9%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
openssl	openssl	cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl

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Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (openssl). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

OpenSSL OpenSSL
- 3.3.0 and later · before 3.3.1affected · semver
- 3.2.0 and later · before 3.2.2affected · semver
- 3.1.0 and later · before 3.1.6affected · semver
- 3.0.0 and later · before 3.0.14affected · semver
- 1.1.1 and later · before 1.1.1yaffected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
AlmaLinux:8	openssl	before 1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6	1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6
AlmaLinux:8	openssl-devel	before 1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6	1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6
AlmaLinux:8	openssl-libs	before 1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6	1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6
AlmaLinux:8	openssl-perl	before 1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6	1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6
AlmaLinux:9	openssl	before 1:3.2.2-6.el9_5	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5
AlmaLinux:9	openssl-devel	before 1:3.2.2-6.el9_5	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5
AlmaLinux:9	openssl-libs	before 1:3.2.2-6.el9_5	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5
AlmaLinux:9	openssl-perl	before 1:3.2.2-6.el9_5	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5
Alpine:v3.17	openssl	before 3.0.14-r0	3.0.14-r0
Alpine:v3.18	openssl	before 3.1.6-r0	3.1.6-r0
Alpine:v3.20	openssl	before 3.3.0-r3	3.3.0-r3
Debian:11	openssl	before 1.1.1n-0+deb11u6	1.1.1n-0+deb11u6
Debian:11	openssl	before 1.1.1w-0+deb11u2	1.1.1w-0+deb11u2
Debian:12	openssl	before 3.0.14-1~deb12u1	3.0.14-1~deb12u1
Debian:13	openssl	before 3.2.2-1	3.2.2-1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5	openssl-1_1	before 1.1.1l-150500.17.31.1	1.1.1l-150500.17.31.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5	openssl-3	before 3.0.8-150500.5.36.1	3.0.8-150500.5.36.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6	openssl-1_1	before 1.1.1w-150600.5.3.1	1.1.1w-150600.5.3.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6	openssl-3	before 3.1.4-150600.5.7.1	3.1.4-150600.5.7.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3	openssl-1_1	before 1.1.1l-150400.7.69.1	1.1.1l-150400.7.69.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3	openssl-3	before 3.0.8-150400.4.57.1	3.0.8-150400.4.57.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	openssl-1_1	before 1.1.1w-11.1	1.1.1w-11.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	openssl-3	before 3.1.4-11.1	3.1.4-11.1
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos	openssl	before 1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6	1:1.1.1k-16.el8_6

+31

Same product

openssl: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

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CVE-2021-3711SM2 Decryption Buffer Overflow
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CVE-2003-0545Double free vulnerability in OpenSSL 0.9.7 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code
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Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2024-6119Sep 3, 2024 · Possible denial of service in X.509 name checks
50Plan
← EarlierCVE-2024-9143Oct 16, 2024 · Low-level invalid GF(2^m) parameters lead to OOB memory access
19Monitor
Later →CVE-2024-13176Jan 20, 2025 · Timing side-channel in ECDSA signature computation
16Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
OpenSSL OpenSSL	3.0.14	Vendor (CNA)
OpenSSL OpenSSL	3.1.6	Vendor (CNA)
OpenSSL OpenSSL	3.2.2	Vendor (CNA)
OpenSSL OpenSSL	3.3.1	Vendor (CNA)
azl3 edk2 20240524git3e722403cd16-6 on Azure Linux 3.0	20240524git3e722403cd16-6 · CBL-Mariner Releases	Microsoft (MSRC)
azl3 edk2 20240524git3e722403cd16-8 on Azure Linux 3.0	20240524git3e722403cd16-6 · CBL-Mariner Releases	Microsoft (MSRC)
cbl2 hvloader 1.0.1-5 on CBL Mariner 2.0	1.0.1-6 · CBL-Mariner Releases	Microsoft (MSRC)
cbl2 hvloader 1.0.1-6 on CBL Mariner 2.0	1.0.1-6 · CBL-Mariner Releases	Microsoft (MSRC)
cbl2 openssl 1.1.1k-31 on CBL Mariner 2.0	1.1.1k-31 · CBL-Mariner Releases	Microsoft (MSRC)
cbl2 openssl 1.1.1k-36 on CBL Mariner 2.0	1.1.1k-31 · CBL-Mariner Releases	Microsoft (MSRC)
almalinux:openssl	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · AlmaLinux:9	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:openssl-devel	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · AlmaLinux:9	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:openssl-libs	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · AlmaLinux:9	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:openssl-perl	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · AlmaLinux:9	Package registry (OSV)
alpine:openssl	3.0.14-r0 · Alpine:v3.17	Package registry (OSV)
debian:openssl	3.0.14-1~deb12u1 · Debian:12	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:openssl-1_1	1.1.1l-150500.17.31.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:openssl-3	3.0.8-150500.5.36.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl-debuginfo	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl-debugsource	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl-devel	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl-libs	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl-libs-debuginfo	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:openssl-perl	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
rocky linux:openssl	1:3.2.2-6.el9_5.1 · Rocky Linux:9	Package registry (OSV)
rocky linux:openssl-fips-provider	0:3.0.7-6.el9_5 · Rocky Linux:9	Package registry (OSV)
suse:jitterentropy	3.4.1-3.1 · SUSE:Linux Micro 6.0	Package registry (OSV)
suse:libpulp	0.3.5-1.1 · SUSE:Linux Micro 6.0	Package registry (OSV)
suse:openssl-1_1	1.1.1d-150200.11.91.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Matt Caswellremediation developer
William Ahern (Akamai)finder
Watson Ladd (Akamai)remediation developer

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

CVE-2026-28387510 days apartPotential Use-after-free in DANE Client Code
32Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: none
Integrity: none
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: None
Integrity impact: None
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

nvd-secondary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1free(dev->buf);
2/* ... another thread is still running ... */
3process(dev->buf);

Fixed

1lock(&dev->lock);
2free(dev->buf);
3dev->buf = NULL;
4unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/704f725b96aa373ee45ecfb23f6abfe8be8d9177

Show all references (8 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records