# CVE-2024-38373: FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP Buffer Over-Read in DNS Response Parser

> A buffer over-read in the FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP DNS parser allows attackers to cause crashes or leak memory via crafted DNS responses.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ppcp-rg65-58mv

## What is CVE-2024-38373?

CVE-2024-38373 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP, published on 24 Jun 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP is a lightweight TCP/IP stack for FreeRTOS. FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP versions 4.0.0 through 4.1.0 contain a buffer over-read issue in the DNS Response Parser when parsing domain names in a DNS response. A carefully crafted DNS response with domain name length value greater than the actual domain name length, could cause the parser to read beyond the DNS response buffer. This issue affects applications using DNS functionality of the FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP stack. Applications that do not use DNS functionality are not affected, even when the DNS functionality is enabled. This vulnerability has been patched in version 4.1.1.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), CWE-126 (Buffer Over-read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-38373?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Amazon Freertos-Plus-Tcp.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-38373?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-38373 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-38373 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-38373 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP

- [CVE-2026-7424](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7424/): Integer Underflow in DHCPv6 Sub-Option Parser in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2026-7422](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7422/): MAC Address Validation Bypass in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP IPv4 and IPv6 Packet Processing (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2026-7426](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7426/): Out-of-Bounds Write via Unsanitized Prefix Length in Router Advertisement Processing in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2026-7423](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7423/): Integer Underflow in ICMP Echo Reply Processing in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP (medium 6.0)
- [CVE-2026-7425](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7425/): Out-of-Bounds Read in Router Advertisement Option Parser in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP (medium 6.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-38373 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-38373 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP, published on 24 Jun 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-38373 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP. 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-2024-38373/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38373/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38373
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38373
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-38373

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38373/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.