# CVE-2024-4741: Use After Free with SSL_free_buffers

Status: published. Published: 2024-11-13. Updated: 2026-11-06.

Issue summary: Calling the OpenSSL API function SSL_free_buffers may cause
memory to be accessed that was previously freed in some situations

Impact summary: A use after free can have a range of potential consequences such
as the corruption of valid data, crashes or execution of arbitrary code.
However, only applications that directly call the SSL_free_buffers function are
affected by this issue. Applications that do not call this function are not
vulnerable. Our investigations indicate that this function is rarely used by
applications.

The SSL_free_buffers function is used to free the internal OpenSSL buffer used
when processing an incoming record from the network. The call is only expected
to succeed if the buffer is not currently in use. However, two scenarios have
been identified where the buffer is freed even when still in use.

The first scenario occurs where a record header has been received from the
network and processed by OpenSSL, but the full record body has not yet arrived.
In this case calling SSL_free_buffers will succeed even though a record has only
been partially processed and the buffer is still in use.

The second scenario occurs where a full record containing application data has
been received and processed by OpenSSL but the application has only read part of
this data. Again a call to SSL_free_buffers will succeed even though the buffer
is still in use.

While these scenarios could occur accidentally during normal operation a
malicious attacker could attempt to engineer a stituation where this occurs.
We are not aware of this issue being actively exploited.

The FIPS modules in 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue.

## Remediation

- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: openssl) — https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/e5093133c35ca82874ad83697af76f4b0f7e3bd8
- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: openssl) — https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/c88c3de51020c37e8706bf7a682a162593053aac
- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: openssl) — https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/704f725b96aa373ee45ecfb23f6abfe8be8d9177
- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: openssl) — https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/b3f0eb0a295f58f16ba43ba99dad70d4ee5c437d
- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: openssl) — https://github.openssl.org/openssl/extended-releases/commit/f7a045f3143fc6da2ee66bf52d8df04829590dd4

## Affected products and versions

- OpenSSL / OpenSSL: ≥ 3.3.0; < 3.3.1 (affected, semver); ≥ 3.2.0; < 3.2.2 (affected, semver); ≥ 3.1.0; < 3.1.6 (affected, semver); ≥ 3.0.0; < 3.0.14 (affected, semver); ≥ 1.1.1; < 1.1.1y (affected, custom). Source: CNA: openssl

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 9.8 (critical); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: ADP: CISA-ADP

- CVSS 3.1: 9.8 (critical); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: NVD: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 2.93% as of 2026-11-06; percentile 87.12%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable yes; technical impact total; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-416

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20240528.txt (CNA: openssl; vendor-advisory)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/e5093133c35ca82874ad83697af76f4b0f7e3bd8 (CNA: openssl; patch)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/c88c3de51020c37e8706bf7a682a162593053aac (CNA: openssl; patch)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/704f725b96aa373ee45ecfb23f6abfe8be8d9177 (CNA: openssl; patch)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/b3f0eb0a295f58f16ba43ba99dad70d4ee5c437d (CNA: openssl; patch)

- https://github.openssl.org/openssl/extended-releases/commit/f7a045f3143fc6da2ee66bf52d8df04829590dd4 (CNA: openssl; patch)

- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/11/msg00000.html (ADP: CVE)

- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/10/msg00033.html (ADP: CVE)

- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240621-0004/ (ADP: CVE)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/704f725b96aa373ee45ecfb23f6abfe8be8d9177 (openssl-security@openssl.org)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/b3f0eb0a295f58f16ba43ba99dad70d4ee5c437d (openssl-security@openssl.org)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/c88c3de51020c37e8706bf7a682a162593053aac (openssl-security@openssl.org)

- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/e5093133c35ca82874ad83697af76f4b0f7e3bd8 (openssl-security@openssl.org)

- https://github.openssl.org/openssl/extended-releases/commit/f7a045f3143fc6da2ee66bf52d8df04829590dd4 (openssl-security@openssl.org)

- https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20240528.txt (openssl-security@openssl.org)

- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/10/msg00033.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/11/msg00000.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240621-0004/ (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

## Provenance

- CNA: openssl: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-4741; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-4741; retrieved 2026-11-07; source updated 2026-11-06

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2024-4741; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated Not reported

Revision: 8b3dd762c3f5425e58e3725e50dac3c9cc248c7dbafe8b352f6fdebec692be8f

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2024-4741

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