VulnerabilityPublished 5 Feb 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-24258: freeglut · Memory Leak

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 66% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
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: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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 5 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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubfreeglut/freeglut`pkg:github/freeglut/freeglut`Other threats	Affected =3.4.0	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

Monitor official freeglut repositories and security advisories closely for patches addressing CVE-2024-24258 and apply them promptly upon release.
Conduct an inventory of all software and systems using freeglut 3.4.0 to identify vulnerable instances.
Limit network exposure of applications using freeglut where possible, employing network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict access to trusted users and systems.
Implement resource monitoring on affected systems to detect abnormal memory consumption patterns indicative of exploitation attempts.
Where feasible, consider upgrading to alternative libraries or versions not affected by this vulnerability until an official patch is available.
Employ application-level mitigations such as input validation or usage restrictions on the glutAddSubMenu function if source code access and modification are possible.
Educate development and operations teams about the vulnerability to ensure rapid response and awareness.
Prepare incident response plans that include steps for memory leak exploitation scenarios to minimize downtime.

Description

freeglut 3.4.0 was discovered to contain a memory leak via the menuEntry variable in the glutAddSubMenu function.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-24258 is the risk of denial of service due to memory exhaustion in applications using freeglut 3.4.0. This can disrupt critical graphical applications, user interfaces, or visualization tools, potentially affecting sectors such as manufacturing, automotive design, scientific research, and media production that rely heavily on OpenGL-based rendering. The vulnerability's ease of exploitation without authentication increases the risk of remote attacks, possibly from opportunistic attackers or automated scanning tools. While confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected, service availability degradation can lead to operational downtime, loss of productivity, and increased incident response costs. Organizations with exposed services or software components incorporating freeglut should consider the threat significant, especially if these systems are part of customer-facing platforms or internal critical infrastructure. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the potential for future attacks once exploit code becomes available.

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
Implementation · Libraries or Frameworks
Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone.
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Architecture and Design · Build and Compilation
Consider using the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector (bdwgc), which can help avoid leaks.
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 5 Nov 2025, 00:51 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-401

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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