CVE-2024-3049 is a medium-severity vulnerability identified in Booth, a cluster ticket manager software. The flaw arises from insufficient verification of data authenticity during the handling of cryptographic hashes. Specifically, when a specially-crafted hash is passed to the function gcry_md_get_algo_dlen(), the Booth server may incorrectly accept an invalid HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code). HMACs are used to verify both the integrity and authenticity of messages, so accepting an invalid HMAC undermines the security guarantees of the system. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to bypass integrity checks and potentially inject or manipulate data within the cluster ticket management process without detection. The vulnerability affects version 1.0-283.1 of Booth. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.9, indicating a medium severity level. The vector string (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N) shows that the attack can be performed remotely over the network without privileges or user interaction, but requires high attack complexity. The impact is limited to integrity, with no direct confidentiality or availability impact. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches or vendor advisories are listed yet. The vulnerability was published on June 6, 2024, and was assigned by Red Hat. Overall, this flaw represents a cryptographic verification weakness that could be leveraged to tamper with cluster ticket data, potentially disrupting cluster coordination or authorization mechanisms relying on Booth.

For European organizations utilizing Booth cluster ticket manager version 1.0-283.1, this vulnerability poses a risk to the integrity of cluster management operations. Since Booth is involved in cluster ticket management, which is critical for coordinating distributed systems and resource access, an attacker exploiting this flaw could manipulate cluster state or authorization tokens. This could lead to unauthorized actions within clustered environments, such as unauthorized resource allocation or denial of legitimate operations due to corrupted cluster tickets. Although confidentiality and availability are not directly impacted, the integrity compromise could cascade into operational disruptions or trust issues in distributed applications. European enterprises relying on Booth for high-availability clusters or distributed computing may face increased risk of subtle data manipulation or privilege escalation within cluster management. Given the medium CVSS score and the requirement for high attack complexity, the immediate risk is moderate but should not be ignored, especially in sectors with critical infrastructure or sensitive distributed systems.

1. Immediate mitigation involves upgrading Booth to a patched version once available from the vendor or maintainers. Monitor official channels for security updates addressing CVE-2024-3049. 2. Until a patch is available, restrict network access to the Booth server to trusted hosts only, minimizing exposure to remote attackers. 3. Implement network-level controls such as firewall rules and segmentation to isolate cluster management traffic. 4. Employ additional application-layer integrity checks or cryptographic verification outside of Booth where feasible to detect tampering. 5. Monitor logs and cluster ticket management activities for anomalies that could indicate exploitation attempts, such as unexpected ticket changes or authentication failures. 6. Conduct a thorough review of cluster ticket usage and consider temporary operational controls to limit the impact of potential ticket manipulation. 7. Engage in vulnerability scanning and penetration testing focused on cluster management components to proactively identify exploitation attempts. 8. Educate system administrators on the nature of this vulnerability and the importance of timely patching and network controls.