CVE-2024-5979VulnerabilityPublished 27 Jun 2024Updated 15 Oct 2025

CVE-2024-5979: h2oai/h2o-3 · Improper Control of Generation of Code

Affects h2oai/h2o-3Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 56% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.0/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 27 Jun 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 2026-10-25.

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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubh2oai/h2o-3`pkg:github/h2oai/h2o-3`Other threats	Affected =3.46.0	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-5979, European organizations should: 1) Immediately assess and inventory all deployments of h2oai/h2o-3 to identify affected versions, prioritizing version 3.46.0 and earlier. 3) Restrict network access to the `run_tool` command interface by implementing firewall rules, network segmentation, or VPN access to limit exposure to trusted users only. 4) Implement input validation and sanitization controls to prevent invalid arguments from reaching the `MojoConvertTool` or other classes invoked via `run_tool`. 5) Monitor logs and system behavior for unusual or repeated invocations of the `run_tool` command, especially calls to `MojoConvertTool` with malformed parameters, to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 6) Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or web application firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to block suspicious requests targeting this functionality. 7) Educate development and operations teams about the risks of dynamic code invocation and enforce secure coding practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities. 8) Establish incident response plans to quickly respond to any denial of service incidents involving h2o-3 services.

Description

In h2oai/h2o-3 version 3.46.0, the `run_tool` command in the `rapids` component allows the `main` function of any class under the `water.tools` namespace to be called. One such class, `MojoConvertTool`, crashes the server when invoked with an invalid argument, causing a denial of service.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-5979 is the potential for denial of service attacks against systems running h2oai/h2o-3, which could disrupt AI and machine learning workflows critical to business operations. This can lead to downtime, loss of productivity, and potential financial losses, especially in sectors relying heavily on data analytics and AI, such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and telecommunications. Since the vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or integrity, data breaches or data manipulation risks are low. However, service unavailability can degrade trust and operational continuity. Organizations using h2o-3 in cloud or on-premises environments exposed to untrusted networks are particularly at risk. The ease of remote exploitation without authentication increases the threat level, making it feasible for attackers to cause disruption without insider access. Additionally, denial of service conditions could be leveraged as part of multi-stage attacks or to distract security teams. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the urgency for mitigation given the high CVSS score and straightforward attack vector.

CWE-94Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #10OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment.
Architecture and Design · Refactoring
Refactor your program so that you do not have to dynamically generate code.
Architecture and Design
Run your code in a "jail" or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which code can be executed by your product.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Server Side Request Forgery Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards (opens in a new tab)
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.2.8 (opens in a new tab)
V5.2.5 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating User-Controlled Variables (opens in a new tab)
Code Injection (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Oct 2025, 13:45 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-94

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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