CVE-2024-10041: Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information
A vulnerability was found in PAM. The secret information is stored in memory, where the attacker can trigger the victim program to execute by sending characters to its standard input (stdin). As this occurs, the attacker can train the branch predictor to execute an ROP chain speculatively. This flaw could result in leaked passwords, such as those found in /etc/shadow while performing authentications.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability CVE-2024-10041 in PAM allows an attacker with local access and low privileges to potentially leak sensitive information, including hashed passwords stored in memory (e.g., /etc/shadow). The attack leverages speculative execution via branch predictor training triggered by input to the program's standard input, enabling a read of secret data through a Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) chain. This issue is classified under CWE-922 (Improperly Controlled Modification of Speculative Execution). Red Hat has issued security advisories with updated PAM packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9 to fix this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to disclosure of sensitive authentication data such as hashed passwords, compromising system security and user credentials. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.7 (medium severity) with high confidentiality impact but no integrity or availability impact. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time.
Mitigation Recommendations
Official patches are available from Red Hat for affected PAM packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9. Users should apply the updates as described in Red Hat advisories RHSA-2024:10379 and RHSA-2024:11250 to remediate this vulnerability. Refer to https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258 for update instructions. No additional mitigation is required beyond applying the vendor-provided fixes.
CVE-2024-10041: Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information
Description
A vulnerability was found in PAM. The secret information is stored in memory, where the attacker can trigger the victim program to execute by sending characters to its standard input (stdin). As this occurs, the attacker can train the branch predictor to execute an ROP chain speculatively. This flaw could result in leaked passwords, such as those found in /etc/shadow while performing authentications.
CVSS v3.1
Score 4.7medium
Affected software
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability CVE-2024-10041 in PAM allows an attacker with local access and low privileges to potentially leak sensitive information, including hashed passwords stored in memory (e.g., /etc/shadow). The attack leverages speculative execution via branch predictor training triggered by input to the program's standard input, enabling a read of secret data through a Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) chain. This issue is classified under CWE-922 (Improperly Controlled Modification of Speculative Execution). Red Hat has issued security advisories with updated PAM packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9 to fix this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to disclosure of sensitive authentication data such as hashed passwords, compromising system security and user credentials. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.7 (medium severity) with high confidentiality impact but no integrity or availability impact. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time.
Mitigation Recommendations
Official patches are available from Red Hat for affected PAM packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9. Users should apply the updates as described in Red Hat advisories RHSA-2024:10379 and RHSA-2024:11250 to remediate this vulnerability. Refer to https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258 for update instructions. No additional mitigation is required beyond applying the vendor-provided fixes.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- redhat
- Date Reserved
- 2024-10-16T16:13:54.632Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:10379","vendor":"Red Hat"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:11250","vendor":"Red Hat"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:9941","vendor":"Red Hat"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-10041","vendor":"Red Hat"}]
Threat ID: 691f5c4ee672cd9080e8d495
Added to database: 11/20/2025, 18:22:06 UTC
Last enriched: 07/02/2026, 22:12:59 UTC
Last updated: 09/10/2026, 20:39:14 UTC
Views: 214
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