GNU grub2 gettext integer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in GNU grub2. This impacts an unknown function of the component gettext. Such manipulation leads to integer overflow. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2024-45777. The attack must be carried out locally. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in GNU grub2 (affected version not known). Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component gettext. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a integer overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-190. 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 can introduce other weaknesses when the calculation is used for resource management or execution control. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

A flaw was found in grub2. The calculation of the translation buffer when reading a language .mo file in grub_gettext_getstr_from_position() may overflow, leading to a Out-of-bound write. This issue can be leveraged by an attacker to overwrite grub2's sensitive heap data, eventually leading to the circumvention of secure boot protections.

The advisory is shared for download at bugzilla.redhat.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2024-45777 since 09/08/2024. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 09/18/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 216508 (SUSE SLES15 Security Update : grub2 (SUSE-SU-2025:0588-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (216508), EUVD (EUVD-2025-4668) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0396). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Grub
• Red Hat OpenShift
• IBM QRadar SIEM

Productinfo

Vendor

• GNU

Name

• grub2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.gnu.org/

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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