CVE-2024-29903 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.2) CWE-770 vulnerability in github.com/sigstore/cosign. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/sigstore/cosign — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Cosign vulnerable to machine-wide denial of service via malicious artifacts
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-29903.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2024-29903 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/sigstore/cosign🐹github.com/sigstore/cosign/v2Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Cosign provides code signing and transparency for containers and binaries. Prior to version 2.2.4, maliciously-crafted software artifacts can cause denial of service of the machine running Cosign thereby impacting all services on the machine. The root cause is that Cosign creates slices based on the number of signatures, manifests or attestations in untrusted artifacts. As such, the untrusted artifact can control the amount of memory that Cosign allocates. The exact issue is Cosign allocates excessive memory on the lines that creates a slice of the same length as the manifests. Version 2.2.4 contains a patch for the vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/sigstore/cosign | all versions | No fix |
| 🐹Go | github.com/sigstore/cosign/v2 | all versions | 2.2.4go get github.com/sigstore/cosign/v2@v2.2.4 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/sigstore/cosign, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
No patched version of github.com/sigstore/cosign has shipped for CVE-2024-29903 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-29903 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-29903. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This vulnerability results only in a Denial-of-Service (DoS) against the Cosign service. Additionally, exploitation requires that the service is configured to accept artifacts from untrusted sources. Consequently, Red Hat's assessment indicates the security impact of this vulnerability is Moderate.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| OpenShift-Pipelines-1.15-RHEL-8 | openshift-pipelines-client-0:1.15.0-11496.el8 | RHEA-2024:4022 |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.5 | advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-central-db-rhel8:4.5.0-2 | RHSA-2024:4836 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-29903 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-29903 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.