CVE-2024-40761 Apache Answer: Avatar URL leaked user email addresses

What is CVE-2024-40761?

CVE-2024-40761 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apache Answer, published on 25 Sep 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Inadequate Encryption Strength vulnerability in Apache Answer.

This issue affects Apache Answer: through 1.3.5.

Using the MD5 value of a user's email to access Gravatar is insecure and can lead to the leakage of user email. The official recommendation is to use SHA256 instead. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 1.4.0, which fixes the issue.

Weakness: CWE-326

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-40761?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/apache/incubator-answer. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Answer.

How do I fix CVE-2024-40761?

Upgrade github.com/apache/incubator-answer to 1.4.0 or later.

Is CVE-2024-40761 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-40761 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Answer

• CVE-2026-60053 Apache Answer: Residual Administrative API Key Access After Role or Account Revocation Critical 9.1
• CVE-2024-22393 Apache Answer: Pixel Flood Attack by uploading the large pixel file Critical 9.1
• CVE-2026-48834 Apache Answer: Denial of service via crafted Accept-Language header parsing High 7.5
• CVE-2026-48911 Apache Answer: Unauthenticated OAuth Email-Binding Account Takeover via Existing User Confirmation Flow High 7.5
• CVE-2026-60023 Apache Answer: Unauthorized disclosure of deleted or pending answer content High 7.5

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-48cr-j2cx-mcr8, GO-2024-3158.