VulnerabilityPublished 20 Nov 2024Updated 25 Nov 2024

CVE-2024-48983: mbed-os · Integer Overflow or Wraparound

Affects mbed-osSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% 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 20 Nov 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
GitHubmbed-ce/mbed-os`pkg:github/mbed-ce/mbed-os`Other threats	Affected =6.16.0	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

Immediate mitigation should focus on network-level controls to restrict or filter incoming HCI packets from untrusted sources, especially on Bluetooth interfaces or other communication channels using HCI.
Employ intrusion detection or anomaly detection systems to monitor for unusual or malformed HCI traffic patterns indicative of exploitation attempts.
Where possible, disable or limit Bluetooth or HCI-based communication interfaces on devices that do not require them to reduce the attack surface.
Coordinate with device vendors and MBed OS maintainers to obtain and apply patches or firmware updates as soon as they become available.
Implement robust device monitoring and automated recovery mechanisms to detect and respond to device crashes or reboots caused by exploitation.
For critical deployments, consider network segmentation to isolate vulnerable devices from broader enterprise or operational networks.
Conduct thorough testing of device firmware and software updates in controlled environments to verify the absence of this vulnerability before wide deployment.
Maintain an inventory of all MBed OS-based devices and their firmware versions to prioritize patching and mitigation efforts.
Educate operational technology and embedded system teams about this vulnerability and the importance of applying mitigations promptly.
Engage with security researchers and communities monitoring MBed OS vulnerabilities for emerging threat intelligence and exploit developments.

Description

An issue was discovered in MBed OS 6.16.0. During processing of HCI packets, the software dynamically determines the length of the packet data by reading 2 bytes from the packet header. A buffer is then allocated to contain the entire packet, the size of which is calculated as the length of the packet body determined earlier plus the header length. WsfMsgAlloc then increments this again by sizeof(wsfMsg_t). This may cause an integer overflow that results in the buffer being significantly too small to contain the entire packet. This may cause a buffer overflow of up to 65 KB . This bug is trivial to exploit for a denial of service but can generally not be exploited further because the exploitable buffer is dynamically allocated.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-48983 is a denial of service condition caused by a buffer overflow resulting from an integer overflow in buffer size calculation. Affected devices may crash, reboot unexpectedly, or become unresponsive when processing maliciously crafted HCI packets. This can disrupt critical embedded and IoT systems relying on MBed OS, including medical devices, industrial control systems, consumer electronics, and automotive components that use Bluetooth or similar communication protocols. The denial of service can lead to operational downtime, loss of availability, and potential safety risks in environments where continuous device operation is critical. Although the vulnerability does not allow direct code execution or data compromise, the loss of service can have cascading effects on network reliability and business continuity. Organizations deploying MBed OS-based devices at scale may face widespread disruption if exploited. The ease of remote exploitation without authentication increases the risk of automated attacks targeting vulnerable devices. The lack of patches at the time of disclosure further elevates the urgency for mitigation.

CWE-190Integer Overflow or Wraparound (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This occurs when an integer value is incremented to a value that is too large to store in the associated representation. When this occurs, the value may become a very small or negative number.
Requirements
Ensure that all protocols are strictly defined, such that all out-of-bounds behavior can be identified simply, and require strict conformance to the protocol.
Requirements · Language Selection
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.4.3 (opens in a new tab)
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Forced Integer Overflow (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 27 Feb 2026, 21:49 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-190

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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