# CVE-2024-32606: Null dereference in n/a

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in the HDF5 library by triggering a dereference of uninitialized values during data dumping.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 May 2024
- **Updated:** 13 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2024-32606, ECHO-4354-616d-18a6, GHSA-m29j-f39x-2r24, JLSEC-2026-301, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-32606, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-32606

## What is CVE-2024-32606?

CVE-2024-32606 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Hdfgroup Hdf5, published on 9 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

HDF5 Library through 1.14.3 may attempt to dereference uninitialized values in h5tools_str_sprint in tools/lib/h5tools_str.c (called from h5tools_dump_simple_data in tools/lib/h5tools_dump.c).

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-32606?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Hdfgroup Hdf5.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-32606?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2024-32606 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-32606 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Hdfgroup Hdf5

- [CVE-2024-32608](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32608/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-29157](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-29157/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-29159](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-29159/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-29164](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-29164/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-32611](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32611/): Other in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-32606 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-32606 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Hdfgroup Hdf5, published on 9 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-32606 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Hdfgroup Hdf5. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32606/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32606/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-32606
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-32606
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-32606

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32606/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.