7.8

CVE-2024-43378: nixos calamares-nixos-extensions Plaintext Storage of a Password

CVSS: 7.8v3.1HighDeferred
Published 15-08-2024Last modified 03-09-2024
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2024-43378 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Plaintext Storage of a Password vulnerability in nixos calamares-nixos-extensions. EPSS estimates a 0.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 2.4% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
31/100
0100
Medium · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
7.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.13%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 15-08-2024
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 03-09-2024
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

calamares-nixos-extensions provides Calamares branding and modules for NixOS, a distribution of GNU/Linux. Users who installed NixOS through the graphical installer who used manual disk partitioning to create a setup where the system was booted via legacy BIOS rather than UEFI; some disk partitions are encrypted; but the partitions containing either `/` or `/boot` are unencrypted; have their LUKS disk encryption key file in plain text either in `/crypto_keyfile.bin`, or in a CPIO archive attached to their NixOS initrd. `nixos-install` is not affected, nor are UEFI installations, nor was the default automatic partitioning configuration on legacy BIOS systems. The problem has been fixed in calamares-nixos-extensions 0.3.17, which was included in NixOS. The current installer images for the NixOS 24.05 and unstable (24.11) channels are unaffected. The fix reached 24.05 at 2024-08-13 20:06:59 UTC, and unstable at 2024-08-15 09:00:20 UTC. Installer images downloaded before those times may be vulnerable. The best solution for affected users is probably to back up their data and do a complete reinstallation. However, the mitigation procedure in GHSA-3rvf-24q2-24ww should work solely for the case where `/` is encrypted but `/boot` is not. If `/` is unencrypted, then the `/crypto_keyfile.bin` file will need to be deleted in addition to the remediation steps in the previous advisory. This issue is a partial regression of CVE-2023-36476 / GHSA-3rvf-24q2-24ww, which was more severe as it applied to the default configuration on BIOS systems.

CVSS metrics

2 scores · 2 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.13%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

2%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

0.00 pp

From 0.13% on 21-09-2026

21-09-202621-10-2026
EPSS score
0.13%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Nixos1 product

1 vendor · 1 product

References

5 links