CVE-2024-45402: Picotls double free
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2024-45402 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) Double Free vulnerability in dena picotls. EPSS estimates a 0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 41.3% of scored vulnerabilities.
Severe, CVSS 8.6 (CVE.org); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources; EPSS 0% (FIRST, 03-11-2026)
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Timeline
- 11-10-2024PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 15-10-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
Picotls is a TLS protocol library that allows users select different crypto backends based on their use case. When parsing a spoofed TLS handshake message, picotls (specifically, bindings within picotls that call the crypto libraries) may attempt to free the same memory twice. This double free occurs during the disposal of multiple objects without any intervening calls to malloc Typically, this triggers the malloc implementation to detect the error and abort the process. However, depending on the internals of malloc and the crypto backend being used, the flaw could potentially lead to a use-after-free scenario, which might allow for arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability is addressed with commit 9b88159ce763d680e4a13b6e8f3171ae923a535d.
CVSS metrics
2 scores · 2 sources · 1 version- CVE.orgCNA8.6HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:HDiffers
EPSS trend
Probability
0.48%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
41%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.48% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Dena1 product
- picotls≥ 2024-08-12, < 2024-10-10
H2o1 product
- picotls< 9b88159ce763d680e4a13b6e8f3171ae923a535d
2 vendors · 2 products