CVE-2024-45037 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.4) CWE-863 vulnerability in aws-cdk. A fix is available for aws-cdk — see the affected versions and patch details below.
AWS CDK RestApi not generating authorizationScope correctly in resultant CFN template
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-45037.
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-2024-45037 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 378,156 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
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
aws-cdknpmDescription
Summary
The AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) is an open-source framework for defining cloud infrastructure using code. Customers use it to create their own applications which are converted to AWS CloudFormation templates during deployment to a customer’s AWS account. CDK contains pre-built components called "constructs" that are higher-level abstractions providing defaults and best practices. This approach enables developers to use familiar programming languages to define complex cloud infrastructure more efficiently than writing raw CloudFormation templates.
We identified an issue in AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) which, under certain conditions, can result in granting authenticated Amazon Cognito users broader than intended access. Specifically, if a CDK application uses the "RestApi" construct with "CognitoUserPoolAuthorizer" as the authorizer and uses authorization scopes to limit access. This issue does not affect the availability of the specific API resources.
Impact
Authenticated Cognito users may gain unintended access to protected API resources or methods, leading to potential data disclosure, and modification issues.
Impacted versions: >=2.142.0;<=2.148.0
Patches
The patch is included in CDK version >=2.148.1.
Recommended Actions
- Upgrade your AWS CDK version to 2.148.1 or newer and re-deploy your application(s) to address this issue.
- If you are using older CDK versions before 2.142.0, you are not affected by this issue, however it is recommended to upgrade to the latest version to receive the latest features and fixes.
- Confirm whether your application(s) is affected by searching for "CognitoUserPoolsAuthorizer" in your CDK application. If it is referenced inside the "RestApi" construct, and the "RestApi" resource or method utilize authorization scopes to limit access, and you deployed your applications using the impacted versions of CDK, your application is affected.
References
- AWS CDK Documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/v2/guide/home.html
- AWS CDK RestApi Construct Documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/v2/docs/aws-cdk-[lib.aws](http://lib.aws/)_apigateway.RestApi.html
- AWS CDK CognitoUserPoolsAuthorizer Documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/v2/docs/aws-cdk- lib.aws_apigateway.CognitoUserPoolsAuthorizer.html
- AWS CDK v2.148.1 Release Notes: https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.148.1
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory we ask that you contact AWS/Amazon Security via our vulnerability reporting page [1] or directly via email to [email protected]. Please do not create a public GitHub issue.
[1] Vulnerability reporting page: https://aws.amazon.com/security/vulnerability-reporting
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | aws-cdk | ≥ 2.142.0&&< 2.148.1 | 2.148.1npm install aws-cdk@2.148.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for aws-cdk, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update aws-cdk to 2.148.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-45037 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
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-2024-45037 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-45037. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-45037 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-45037 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.