Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2024-57256 is a memory corruption flaw in Das U-Boot’s ext4 symlink handling. A specially crafted ext4 filesystem can trigger an integer overflow and overwrite memory. Business risk is highest for products that boot from or inspect attacker-controlled storage before the operating system loads.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority firmware supply-chain issue for embedded products and appliances, not a broad internet-exposed emergency. Prioritize devices with accessible boot media, recovery ports, or field-service workflows using ext4 filesystems.
Technical view
In ext4fs_read_symlink, adding one to a 32-bit little-endian inode size can overflow when the size is 0xffffffff. Sources say this can cause a zero-size allocation followed by memory overwrite. The CVSS vector is physical, high complexity, no privileges or user interaction, with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to systems using vulnerable Das U-Boot versions before 2025.01-rc1, especially embedded or appliance environments where boot media, recovery media, or ext4 filesystems may be attacker-controlled. The bundle does not provide a complete affected-product inventory.
Exploitation context
The CVSS vector indicates physical access and high attack complexity. The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Practical exploitation would depend on whether an attacker can present a crafted ext4 filesystem to vulnerable U-Boot during boot or recovery workflows.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports an integer overflow to memory overwrite in U-Boot ext4 symlink parsing. Public data in the bundle does not establish exploit availability, active exploitation, or all downstream affected products. Product impact requires firmware composition analysis.
Mitigation direction
- Identify products and firmware builds that include Das U-Boot before 2025.01-rc1.
- Apply vendor firmware or package updates that include the U-Boot fix.
- Review Siemens and Debian advisories where those ecosystems apply.
- Restrict physical and removable-media access to boot and recovery paths.
- If no vendor update exists, request explicit mitigation guidance from the vendor.
Validation and detection
- Inventory firmware SBOMs and build manifests for Das U-Boot versions.
- Confirm whether ext4 filesystem parsing is enabled in boot or recovery paths.
- Check whether vendor updates include commit 35f75d2a46e5859138c83a75cd2f4141c5479ab9.
- Review device procedures for removable media, recovery images, and field servicing.
- Track downstream advisories for product-specific affected and fixed versions.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-190: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2024-57256 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H0.56mitreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.1HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://source.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/commit/35f75d2a46e5859138c83a75cd2f4141c5479ab9CVE reference, mitre
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/02/17/2CVE reference, mitre
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00001.htmlCVE reference, CVE
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-577017.htmlCVE reference, siemens-SADP
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Integer Overflow or Wraparound
Integer Overflow or Wraparound represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.