CVE-2024-20978VulnerabilityPublished 17 Feb 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-20978: Oracle MySQL Server · Easily exploitable vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with network access via multiple

Affects Oracle MySQL ServerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.9 Medium : upgrade to 8.2.1 or 8.0.36 when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 63% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 8.2.1, 8.0.36

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 17 Feb 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade mysql/mysql-server to 8.2.1 or 8.0.36.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mysqlmysql/mysql-server`pkg:deb/mysql/mysql-server`Other threats	Affected <8.0.36 <8.2.1	Fixed in 8.0.36 8.2.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

1. 2. Restrict network access to MySQL Server instances to trusted administrators only, using firewalls, VPNs, or network segmentation to limit exposure. 3. Enforce the principle of least privilege by ensuring only necessary users have high privileged access to MySQL servers. 4. Implement strong authentication and authorization controls for MySQL administrative accounts, including multi-factor authentication where possible. 5. Monitor MySQL server logs and performance metrics for signs of hangs, crashes, or unusual activity that could indicate exploitation attempts. 6. Use intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to detect anomalous network traffic targeting MySQL protocols. 7. Regularly audit and review user privileges and network access policies to minimize the attack surface. 8. Develop and test incident response plans specifically for database availability incidents to reduce downtime impact. 9. Consider deploying MySQL high availability solutions or clustering to mitigate the impact of potential DoS attacks by enabling failover. 10. Stay informed through vendor advisories and threat intelligence feeds to respond quickly to emerging exploit techniques.

Description

Vulnerability in the MySQL Server product of Oracle MySQL (component: Server: Optimizer). Supported versions that are affected are 8.0.35 and prior and 8.2.0 and prior. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with network access via multiple protocols to compromise MySQL Server. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of MySQL Server. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 4.9 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-20978 is the potential for denial-of-service attacks against MySQL Server instances, which can disrupt critical business applications and services relying on these databases. This can lead to operational downtime, loss of productivity, and potential financial losses. Since the vulnerability requires high privileges, the risk is elevated in environments where administrative access is not tightly controlled or where attackers have already gained elevated access through other means. Industries such as finance, telecommunications, healthcare, and e-commerce, which heavily depend on MySQL databases for transaction processing and data management, could experience significant service interruptions. Additionally, organizations providing cloud or managed database services in Europe could face reputational damage if their MySQL infrastructure is impacted. The lack of confidentiality or integrity impact reduces the risk of data breaches directly from this vulnerability, but availability disruptions can indirectly affect compliance with regulations like GDPR if service outages impact data access or processing. Overall, the threat underscores the importance of securing privileged access and maintaining robust incident response capabilities.

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: High
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended. A strong authentication and access control model will help prevent such attacks from occurring in the first place.
Architecture and Design
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either: recognizes the attack and denies that user further access for a given amount of time, or; uniformly throttles all requests in order to make it more difficult to consume resources more quickly than they can again be freed.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that protocols have specific limits of scale placed on them.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
File Upload (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Regular Expression Exponential Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Sustained Client Engagement (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 21:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-400

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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