VulnerabilityPublished 25 Mar 2024Updated 7 Nov 2024

CVE-2024-30203: emacs

Affects emacsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium : upgrade to 29.3 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 47% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 29.3

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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 25 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

Upgrade the Debian debian/emacs package to 29.3.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Debiandebian/emacs`pkg:deb/debian/emacs`Other threats	Affected <29.3	Fixed in 29.3

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

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-30203, organizations should: 1) Upgrade Emacs to version 29.3 or later once the patch is officially released, as this will address the vulnerability in Gnus. 2) Until an update is available, restrict the use of Gnus for email handling, especially avoiding opening emails from untrusted or unknown sources. 3) Implement local security controls to limit user privileges and prevent unauthorized local access, reducing the risk of exploitation. 4) Educate users about the risks of opening suspicious emails and inline content within Emacs/Gnus. 5) Consider disabling or limiting the processing of inline MIME content in Gnus if configuration options allow. 6) Monitor Emacs and Gnus usage logs for unusual crashes or hangs that could indicate exploitation attempts. 7) Employ endpoint protection solutions that can detect anomalous application behavior. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on configuration, user education, and monitoring specific to the Emacs/Gnus environment.

Description

In Emacs before 29.3, Gnus treats inline MIME contents as trusted.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-30203 is on the availability of systems running vulnerable Emacs versions with Gnus used for email. An attacker could craft a malicious email with specially formed inline MIME content that, when opened by a user in Gnus, causes the application to crash or hang, resulting in denial of service. This could disrupt email communications and productivity, particularly in environments where Emacs is a critical tool for email and news reading. Since the vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or integrity, the risk of data breach is low. However, the requirement for local access and user interaction limits the scope of exploitation to targeted attacks or insider threats. Organizations relying on Emacs for email handling, especially in academic, research, or software development sectors, may experience operational disruptions if exploited. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the need for remediation.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Feb 2026, 12:04 UTC

Technical details

References

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