Cleartext credential recovery from process memory dumps
Published May 20, 2024 · Updated Feb 13, 2025
Cleartext credential exposure in KeePassXC 2.7.7 allows local users with victim-level privileges to recover passwords from a memory dump. KeePassXC leaves the master password as a UTF-16 string in Qt-managed process memory after the database is unlocked, allowing string searches of a captured dump. Exploitation requires access sufficient to dump the victim's process and is most reliable while the database is open; KeePassXC disputes treating this design constraint as a vulnerability.
Summary
What happened
Cleartext credential exposure in KeePassXC 2.7.7 allows local users with victim-level privileges to recover passwords from a memory dump. KeePassXC leaves the master password as a UTF-16 string in Qt-managed process memory after the database is unlocked, allowing string searches of a captured dump. Exploitation requires access sufficient to dump the victim's process and is most reliable while the database is open; KeePassXC disputes treating this design constraint as a vulnerability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-33900
- Published
- May 20, 2024
- Updated
- Feb 13, 2025
- Vendor
- KeePassXC
- Product
- KeePassXC
- Classifications
- CWE-316, T1003
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 20, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 13, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2.7.7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Memory-dump string-search proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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