CVE-2024-6174VulnerabilityPublished 14 Jul 2025Updated 11 Oct 2026

SUSE · security update for cloud-init

Affects SUSESource GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 8.6.4 soon.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

Severity

High

Rated by Threat Radar · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 18% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 8.6.4

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 14 Jul 2025
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

Upgrade redhat/cloud-init to 8.6.4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hatredhat/cloud-init`pkg:rpm/redhat/cloud-init`Other threats	Affected =8.6 <8.6.4	Fixed in 8.6.4

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

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released an official security update that fixes the cloud-init permissions flaw (CVE-2024-6174). Users running affected versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 should apply the update as soon as possible. Detailed instructions for applying the update are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigation steps are indicated by the vendor advisory.

Description

The cloud-init packages provide a set of init scripts for cloud instances. Cloud instances need special scripts to run during initialization to retrieve and install SSH keys, and to let the user run various scripts. Security Fix(es): * cloud-init: Cloud init permissions flaw (CVE-2024-6174) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Impact

The vulnerability affects the permissions handling in cloud-init, potentially allowing unauthorized access or actions during cloud instance initialization. This could compromise the security of cloud instances by affecting the retrieval or installation of SSH keys or execution of initialization scripts. The severity is rated as Important by Red Hat Product Security. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time.

Summary

The cloud-init packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 contain a permissions flaw identified as CVE-2024-6174. Cloud-init is used to run initialization scripts on cloud instances, including retrieving and installing SSH keys and running user scripts. The flaw involves improper permissions handling, which could impact the security of cloud instance initialization. Red Hat has released an update to fix this issue, available for various architectures and extended update support versions of RHEL 10. The advisory is RHSA-2025:10844, and the update can be applied following instructions at Red Hat's knowledge base article 11258.

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 12 Jul 2026, 11:11 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-276

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats