CVE-2024-53984Network attack vector

Memory exhaustion via unreleased delimited-message allocations

Published Dec 2, 2024 · Updated Dec 2, 2024

Memory leak in Nanopb 0.4.0 through 0.4.9 allows remote authenticated users to interrupt services via malformed delimited messages. In pb_decode_ex(), a failed pb_close_string_substream() returned before the PB_ENABLE_MALLOC cleanup path, so pb_release() never freed FT_POINTER allocations. The path requires malloc support, an FT_POINTER field, an unknown-length custom stream, PB_DECODE_DELIMITED, and a corrupted length prefix; repeated failures can exhaust memory.

CVSS severity4.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.41%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Memory leak in Nanopb 0.4.0 through 0.4.9 allows remote authenticated users to interrupt services via malformed delimited messages. In pb_decode_ex(), a failed pb_close_string_substream() returned before the PB_ENABLE_MALLOC cleanup path, so pb_release() never freed FT_POINTER allocations. The path requires malloc support, an FT_POINTER field, an unknown-length custom stream, PB_DECODE_DELIMITED, and a corrupted length prefix; repeated failures can exhaust memory.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-53984
Published
Dec 2, 2024
Updated
Dec 2, 2024
Vendor
Petteri Aimonen
Product
Nanopb
Classifications
CWE-755, CWE-401, T1499.003
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 2, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Dec 2, 2024Record 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=>=0.4.0, < 0.4.9.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Petteri Aimonen · Nanopbversion=>=0.4.0, < 0.4.9.1

Published CVSS scores

4.3GitHubCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-755Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions
CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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