CVE-2024-5294VulnerabilityPublished 23 May 2024Updated 1 Aug 2024

CVE-2024-5294: D-Link DIR-3040 · Memory Leak

Affects D-Link DIR-3040Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score

4.3Medium

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:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
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: 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 23 May 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 2026-10-26.

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 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

1. Monitor D-Link’s official channels for firmware updates addressing CVE-2024-5294 and apply patches promptly once available. 2. Implement network segmentation to isolate critical routers from untrusted or guest networks, reducing exposure to network-adjacent attackers. 3. Restrict access to router management interfaces (ports 80 and 443) using firewall rules or access control lists to trusted IP addresses only. 4. Employ intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to monitor for unusual or repeated HNAP requests targeting prog.cgi endpoints, enabling early detection of exploitation attempts. 5. Regularly audit and update router firmware to the latest stable versions to minimize exposure to known vulnerabilities. 6. Consider deploying network-level rate limiting on HTTP/HTTPS traffic to the router to mitigate potential memory exhaustion from repeated requests. 7. In environments where the DIR-3040 is critical, evaluate alternative hardware or vendor solutions if timely patches are unavailable.

Description

D-Link DIR-3040 prog.cgi websSecurityHandler Memory Leak Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to create a denial-of-service condition on affected installations of D-Link DIR-3040 routers. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the prog.cgi program, which handles HNAP requests made to the lighttpd webserver listening on ports 80 and 443. The issue results from the lack of proper memory management when processing HTTP cookie values. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to create a denial-of-service condition on the system. . Was ZDI-CAN-21668.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-5294 is a denial-of-service condition caused by memory exhaustion on affected D-Link DIR-3040 routers. This can lead to router crashes or severe performance degradation, resulting in network outages for all devices relying on the router for connectivity. Organizations using this router model in critical environments may experience disruption of business operations, loss of internet access, and potential secondary impacts on security monitoring or remote management capabilities. Since the vulnerability requires no authentication and can be exploited by network-adjacent attackers, it poses a risk in environments where untrusted users or devices share the same network segment, such as public Wi-Fi, enterprise guest networks, or poorly segmented internal networks. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk, but the vulnerability’s characteristics make it a candidate for future exploitation. The scope is limited to the specific router model and firmware version, but given D-Link’s global market presence, the impact can be widespread in affected deployments.

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
Implementation · Libraries or Frameworks
Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone.
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Architecture and Design · Build and Compilation
Consider using the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector (bdwgc), which can help avoid leaks.
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-24-445/ (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Feb 2026, 02:30 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-401

Technical details

References

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