VulnerabilityPublished 14 Mar 2024Updated 21 Nov 2024

CVE-2024-25650: Cleartext Transmission

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.9Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 16% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 14 Mar 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

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-25650, organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Immediately review and restrict PAM administrator privileges to the minimum necessary, ensuring that only fully trusted personnel have such access. 2) Monitor and audit REST API endpoint usage, particularly /pre-authenticate, /authenticate, and /execute-and-respond, for anomalous or unexpected requests that could indicate exploitation attempts. 3) Implement network segmentation and strict access controls to limit exposure of the PAM Secret Server and Distributed Engine components, reducing the attack surface. 4) Employ additional encryption or secure transport mechanisms (e.g., TLS with mutual authentication) for communication between PAM components to prevent key interception. 5) Regularly update and patch PAM software once vendor fixes become available; meanwhile, engage with Delinea support for any recommended interim mitigations or workarounds. 6) Conduct thorough security assessments and penetration testing focused on PAM infrastructure to identify and remediate related weaknesses. 7) Enhance logging and alerting capabilities to detect impersonation or unauthorized message access attempts, compensating for the lack of native audit coverage in this attack scenario.

Description

Insecure key exchange between Delinea PAM Secret Server 11.4 and the Distributed Engine 8.4.3 allows a PAM administrator to obtain the Symmetric Key (used to encrypt RabbitMQ messages) via crafted payloads to the /pre-authenticate, /authenticate, and /execute-and-respond REST API endpoints. This makes it possible for a PAM administrator to impersonate the Engine and exfiltrate sensitive information from the messages published in the RabbitMQ exchanges, without being audited in the application.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2024-25650 is significant for organizations relying on Delinea PAM Secret Server and Distributed Engine for privileged access management. By obtaining the symmetric key used for RabbitMQ message encryption, an attacker with PAM administrator privileges can impersonate the Distributed Engine and access sensitive information exchanged within the PAM infrastructure. This can lead to unauthorized disclosure of credentials, secrets, or other confidential data managed by the PAM system. Since the attack bypasses audit logging, it complicates incident detection and response efforts. The compromise of PAM components undermines the security of the entire privileged access ecosystem, potentially enabling lateral movement, privilege escalation, and further compromise of critical systems. Organizations in sectors with high security requirements, such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure, face elevated risks. The medium CVSS score reflects the attack complexity and the need for privileged access, but the confidentiality impact is high, making this vulnerability a serious concern for protecting sensitive credentials and secrets.

CWE-319Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A04:2025: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.
Architecture and Design
Before transmitting, encrypt the data using reliable, confidentiality-protecting cryptographic protocols.
Implementation
When using web applications with SSL, use SSL for the entire session from login to logout, not just for the initial login page.
Implementation
When designing hardware platforms, ensure that approved encryption algorithms (such as those recommended by NIST) protect paths from security critical data to trusted user applications.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
TLS Cipher String (opens in a new tab)
User Privacy Protection (opens in a new tab)
Password Storage (opens in a new tab)
Cryptographic Storage (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V9.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.9.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Session Sidejacking (opens in a new tab)
Harvesting Information via API Event Monitoring (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoofing by Mixing Signed and Unsigned Content (opens in a new tab)
Sniff Application Code (opens in a new tab)
Interception (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

cvcn.gov.it/cvcn/cve/CVE-2024-25650 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Feb 2026, 09:50 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-319

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats