VulnerabilityPublished 25 Mar 2024Updated 4 Nov 2024

CVE-2024-30204: emacs · Incorrect Default Permissions

Affects emacsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 2.8 Low : upgrade to 29.3 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

2.8Low

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 40% 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:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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

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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

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-2024-30204, organizations and users should first consider upgrading Emacs to version 29.3 or later, where this vulnerability is addressed. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, users should disable the default LaTeX preview feature for email attachments by adjusting Emacs configuration settings to prevent automatic rendering. Specifically, modifying or disabling the relevant hooks or functions that trigger LaTeX preview on email attachments can reduce exposure. Additionally, users should exercise caution when opening emails with LaTeX attachments from untrusted sources, and implement email filtering to block or quarantine suspicious attachments. Employing endpoint security solutions that monitor resource usage anomalies may help detect exploitation attempts. Regularly reviewing and applying security updates for Emacs and related packages is essential. Finally, educating users about the risks of opening unexpected LaTeX attachments can further reduce the likelihood of exploitation.

Description

In Emacs before 29.3, LaTeX preview is enabled by default for e-mail attachments.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-30204 is on system availability due to potential denial of service caused by automatic LaTeX preview processing in email attachments. An attacker could exploit this by sending specially crafted LaTeX attachments that consume excessive CPU or memory resources when rendered by Emacs, leading to application slowdown or crashes. Since the vulnerability requires local access and user interaction to trigger, the risk of widespread remote exploitation is low. Confidentiality and integrity of data are not affected. However, organizations that use Emacs extensively for email handling, particularly in academic, research, or technical environments where LaTeX emails are common, may experience disruptions. The vulnerability could be leveraged in targeted attacks to disrupt workflows or cause temporary denial of service on affected systems. Given the low CVSS score and absence of known exploits, the overall impact is limited but should not be ignored in sensitive or high-availability environments.

CWE-276Incorrect Default Permissions (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.
Architecture and Design · Operation
The architecture needs to access and modification attributes for files to only those users who actually require those actions.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Access Control (opens in a new tab)
Authorization Testing Automation (opens in a new tab)
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs (opens in a new tab)
Directory Indexing (opens in a new tab)
Web Server Logs Tampering (opens in a new tab)
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 26 Feb 2026, 12:04 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-276

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats