CVE-2024-23839 – CVE-2024-23839 is a heap use-after-free vulnera... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2024-23839?

CVE-2024-23839 has a CVSS score of 7.1 (HIGH). CVE-2024-23839 is a heap use-after-free vulnerability in Suricata's HTTP header parsing. Attackers can cause memory corruption and potential code execution by sending specially crafted traffic to systems using vulnerable rules with http.request_header or http.response_header keywords. This affects all Suricata deployments running versions before 7.0.3 that use these specific keywords in their rulesets.

📋 TL;DR

CVE-2024-23839 is a heap use-after-free vulnerability in Suricata's HTTP header parsing. Attackers can cause memory corruption and potential code execution by sending specially crafted traffic to systems using vulnerable rules with http.request_header or http.response_header keywords. This affects all Suricata deployments running versions before 7.0.3 that use these specific keywords in their rulesets.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Suricata

Versions: All versions prior to 7.0.3

Operating Systems: All operating systems running Suricata

Default Config Vulnerable: ✅ No

Notes: Only vulnerable if ruleset uses http.request_header or http.response_header keywords. Many default rulesets may not include these keywords.

📦 What is this software?

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Remote code execution leading to complete system compromise, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code with Suricata's privileges, potentially gaining root access.

🟠

Likely Case

Denial of service causing Suricata to crash, disrupting network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact if proper network segmentation and access controls prevent malicious traffic from reaching Suricata instances.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - Suricata often monitors internet-facing traffic, making it directly exposed to crafted malicious packets from external attackers.

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal attackers or compromised internal systems could exploit this vulnerability if they can send traffic to Suricata instances.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: UNKNOWN

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: MEDIUM

Exploitation requires sending specially crafted HTTP traffic to trigger the use-after-free condition. No public exploit code has been released as of the advisory date.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 7.0.3

Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/OISF/suricata/security/advisories/GHSA-qxj6-hr2p-mmc7

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Download Suricata 7.0.3 or later from official sources. 2. Stop Suricata service. 3. Install the new version. 4. Restart Suricata service. 5. Verify the version is 7.0.3 or higher.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Remove vulnerable keywords from ruleset

all

Remove or disable rules containing http.request_header or http.response_header keywords to prevent triggering the vulnerability

grep -r 'http\.request_header\|http\.response_header' /etc/suricata/rules/
# Review and remove affected rules from your ruleset

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Implement network segmentation to restrict traffic to Suricata instances
Deploy network-based intrusion prevention systems in front of Suricata to filter malicious traffic

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Suricata version and review ruleset for http.request_header or http.response_header keywords

Check Version:

suricata --build-info | grep 'Suricata Version'

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify Suricata version is 7.0.3 or higher and confirm it's running without errors

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Suricata crash logs
Memory corruption errors in system logs
Unexpected Suricata process termination

Network Indicators:

Unusual HTTP traffic patterns targeting Suricata instances
Traffic containing malformed HTTP headers

SIEM Query:

source="suricata" AND (event_type="alert" AND alert.signature_id IN [rules_with_vulnerable_keywords]) OR (process_name="suricata" AND termination_reason="segmentation_fault")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2024-23839

CVSS v3 Score: 7.1 (HIGH)

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

CWE: CWE-416

Published: February 26, 2024

Last Updated: December 19, 2024

🔗 References

https://github.com/OISF/suricata/commit/cd731fcaf42e5f7078c9be643bfa0cee2ad53e8f Patch
https://github.com/OISF/suricata/security/advisories/GHSA-qxj6-hr2p-mmc7 Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/GOCOBFUTIFHOP2PZOH4ENRFXRBHIRKK4/ Mailing List
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZXJIT7R53ZXROO3I256RFUWTIW4ECK6P/ Mailing List
https://redmine.openinfosecfoundation.org/issues/6657 Issue Tracking
https://github.com/OISF/suricata/commit/cd731fcaf42e5f7078c9be643bfa0cee2ad53e8f Patch
https://github.com/OISF/suricata/security/advisories/GHSA-qxj6-hr2p-mmc7 Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/GOCOBFUTIFHOP2PZOH4ENRFXRBHIRKK4/ Mailing List
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZXJIT7R53ZXROO3I256RFUWTIW4ECK6P/ Mailing List
https://redmine.openinfosecfoundation.org/issues/6657 Issue Tracking

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