CVE-2024-52337

Vulnerability

Overview

CVE-2024-52337 is a log spoofing flaw found in the Tuned package. The vulnerability arises from improper sanitization of some API arguments, specifically the instance_name parameter of the instance_create() method [3][4]. This allows an attacker to pass a controlled sequence of characters, including newlines, that can be inserted into Tuned logs. By doing so, an attacker can make their input appear as a legitimate TuneD log line, potentially leading administrators to overlook malicious activity [1][2].

Attack

Vector

The attack is carried out by crafting a specially crafted input to the Tuned D-Bus interface, which is used for operations such as tuned-adm get_instances or by other programs leveraging that bus. The logged string, including the spoofed content, is then displayed in logs and command outputs. The attacker does not require authenticated access to the system, as the vulnerability is triggered via the API endpoint that is accessible to unprivileged users, depending on the system configuration. The presence of the apostrophe character ('') in the log format—used by Tuned to denote user input—means the injected payload always ends with a single quote, making the spoofed line appear consistent with legitimate log entries [1].

Impact

A successful exploit of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to inject false log entries that mimic valid system events. This could mislead system administrators during log analysis, possibly enabling the attacker to hide malicious actions such as unauthorized configuration changes or other misuse of Tuned functionality. The injected log lines are also consumed by third-party programs that rely on Tuned's D-Bus logs, potentially affecting automated monitoring and alerting systems [1][2].

Mitigation

Red Hat has released updates to address this vulnerability across multiple enterprise Linux versions. Patched packages are available via RHSA-2024:10384 for RHEL 9, RHSA-2025:0195, RHSA-2025:1785 for RHEL 9.4 Extended Update Support, and RHSA-2025:1802 for RHEL 9.2 Extended Update Support [1][2][3][4]. Administrators are advised to update the tuned package to version 2.24.0-2.el9_5 or later. No workarounds are currently documented, and the vulnerability is not known to be exploited in the wild.