GRUB2 Side-Channel Attack Vulnerability in grub_crypto_memcmp
CVE-2024-56738 Published on December 29, 2024
GNU GRUB (aka GRUB2) through 2.12 does not use a constant-time algorithm for grub_crypto_memcmp and thus allows side-channel attacks.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2024-56738 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a small impact on confidentiality, a small impact on integrity and availability.
Weakness Type
Observable Timing Discrepancy
Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not. In security-relevant contexts, even small variations in timing can be exploited by attackers to indirectly infer certain details about the product's internal operations. For example, in some cryptographic algorithms, attackers can use timing differences to infer certain properties about a private key, making the key easier to guess. Timing discrepancies effectively form a timing side channel.
Products Associated with CVE-2024-56738
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Affected Versions
GNU GRUB2:- Version 2.00, <= 2.12 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.