How severe is CVE-2024-5138?

CVE-2024-5138 has a CVSS score of 8.1/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2024-5138?

CVE-2024-5138 affects the following packages: github.com/snapcore/snapd (Go), github.com/snapcore/snapd (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2024-5138?

Update github.com/snapcore/snapd to 2.63.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-5138 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2024-5138 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/snapcore/snapd, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-5138 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

Is CVE-2024-5138 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2024-5138 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2024-5138?

CVE-2024-5138 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.8%, placing it in the 58th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2024-5138?

CVE-2024-5138 is classified as Improper Input Validation (CWE-20). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2024-5138 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-5138 was published on May 31, 2024 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2024-5138 — snapd

HIGHFix: snapcore/snapd@68ee9c6

CVE-2024-5138 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in github.com/snapcore/snapd. A fix is available for github.com/snapcore/snapd — see the affected versions and patch details below.

CVE-2024-5138: snapd snapctl auth bypass

Also known asGHSA-p9v8-q5m4-pf46GO-2024-2906

Published

May 31, 2024

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 3, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

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-2024-5138.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs58th percentile — riskier than 58% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

2 pkgs affected

🐹github.com/snapcore/snapd🐹github.com/snapcore/snapd

Real-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

Impact

A snap with prior permissions to create a mount entry on the host, such as firefox, normally uses the permission from one of the per-snap hook programs. A unprivileged users cannot normally trigger that behaviour by using snap run --shell firefox followed by snapctl mount, since snapd validates the requesting user identity (root or non-root). The issue allows unprivileged users to bypass that check by crafting a malicious command line vector which confuses snapd into thinking the help message is requested.

Unprivileged user on a default installation of Ubuntu, where firefox is as provided as a snap, may cause a denial-of-service attack by repeatedly mounting hunspell database over and over and eventually exhausting system memory.

Other attacks, reliant on the same underying mechanism (mount), are possible. In all cases the snap must be installed and grated permission to perform this action (by connecting an appropriate snap interface), which requires administrative privileges. As such we are focusing on the case of default installation where an unprivileged user may exploit this behavior.

Patches

Patch: https://github.com/canonical/snapd/commit/68ee9c6aa916ab87dbfd9a26030690f2cabf1e14 Release: Available from Snapd 2.64

Workarounds

Users may disconnect any instances of the mount-control interface to prevent snapd from creating such mount points. For example, the firefox snap has the host-hunspell plug, which is of type mount-control. The interface can be disconnected with:

sudo snap disconnect firefox:host-hunspell

References

The original bug report was made on Launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/2065077 CVE.org: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-5138 Canonical: https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-5138

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/snapcore/snapd`	≥ 2.51.6&&< 2.63.1	2.63.1`go get github.com/snapcore/snapd@v2.63.1`
🐹Go	`github.com/snapcore/snapd`	all versions	0.0.0-20240524114846-68ee9c6aa916`go get github.com/snapcore/snapd@v0.0.0-20240524114846-68ee9c6aa916`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

snapdcanonical

≥ 2.51.6 && < 2.63.1

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/snapcore/snapd, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/snapcore/snapd to 2.63.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-5138 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact A snap with prior permissions to create a mount entry on the host, such as firefox, normally uses the permission from one of the per-snap hook programs. A unprivileged users cannot normally trigger that behaviour by using `snap run --shell firefox` followed by `snapctl mount`, since snapd validates the requesting user identity (root or non-root). The issue allows unprivileged users to bypass that check by crafting a malicious command line vector which confuses snapd into thinking the help message is requested. Unprivileged user on a default installation of Ubuntu, where firefox is