# CVE-2024-38517: Integer overflow in RapidJSON

> An attacker can achieve privilege escalation by tricking a user into opening a crafted JSON file that triggers an integer underflow in the RapidJSON parser.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Jul 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** AZL-43245, AZL-43300, AZL-43320, AZL-43543, AZL-45330, BELL-CVE-2024-38517, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-38517, ECHO-8923-801d-a91a, MGASA-2024-0371, OESA-2024-1857, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-38517, USN-7125-1

## What is CVE-2024-38517?

CVE-2024-38517 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Tencent RapidJSON, published on 9 Jul 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Tencent RapidJSON is vulnerable to privilege escalation due to an integer underflow in the `GenericReader::ParseNumber()` function of `include/rapidjson/reader.h` when parsing JSON text from a stream. An attacker needs to send the victim a crafted file which needs to be opened; this triggers the integer underflow vulnerability (when the file is parsed), leading to elevation of privilege.

Weakness: CWE-191 (Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound))

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-38517?


## How do I fix CVE-2024-38517?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2024-38517 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-38517 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-38517 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-38517 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Tencent RapidJSON, published on 9 Jul 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-38517 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tencent RapidJSON. 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-2024-38517/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38517/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38517
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38517
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-38517

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38517/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.