# CVE-2024-5660: Security feature bypass in Cortex-78C

> Attackers can bypass Stage-2 translation and GPT protection on specific Arm Cortex CPUs using Hardware Page Aggregation.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Dec 2024
- **Updated:** 16 Dec 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2024-5660, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-5660, GHSA-h32q-4pph-8pgm, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-5660

## What is CVE-2024-5660?

CVE-2024-5660 is a critical vulnerability in Arm Cortex-78C, published on 10 Dec 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Use of Hardware Page Aggregation (HPA) and Stage-1 and/or Stage-2 translation on Cortex-A77, Cortex-A78, Cortex-A78C, Cortex-A78AE, Cortex-A710, Cortex-X1, Cortex-X1C, Cortex-X2, Cortex-X3, Cortex-X4, Cortex-X925, Neoverse V1, Neoverse V2, Neoverse V3, Neoverse V3AE, Neoverse N2 may permit bypass of Stage-2 translation and/or GPT protection.

Weakness: CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-5660?

It affects 16 products.


Products: Arm Cortex-A710 Firmware, Arm Cortex-A77 Firmware, Arm Cortex-A78 Firmware, Arm Cortex-A78ae Firmware, Arm Cortex-A78c Firmware, Arm Cortex-X1 Firmware, Arm Cortex-X1c Firmware, Arm Cortex-X2 Firmware, Arm Cortex-X3 Firmware, Arm Cortex-X4 Firmware, Arm Cortex-X925 Firmware, Arm Neoverse-V1 Firmware, Arm Neoverse-V2 Firmware, Arm Neoverse-V3 Firmware, Arm Neoverse-V3ae Firmware, Arm Neoverse N2 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-5660?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-5660 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-5660 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-5660 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-5660 is a critical vulnerability in Arm Cortex-78C, published on 10 Dec 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-5660 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Arm Cortex-78C. 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-2024-5660/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-5660/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-5660
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-5660
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-5660

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-5660/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.