Critical MongoDB C Driver Vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-6381, CVE-2025-0755): Patch Guide & Security Analysis

 

Ubuntu security alert: Critical vulnerabilities in mongo-c-driver (CVE-2024-6381, CVE-2025-0755) allow RCE & DoS attacks. Learn patch versions for Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS and how Ubuntu Pro enhances protection

Critical Security Vulnerabilities in MongoDB C Driver

Published: July 2, 2025 | Last Updated: July 4, 2025

The MongoDB C Driver (mongo-c-driver), a critical component for database connectivity in C/C++ applications, was found to contain high-severity memory corruption vulnerabilities (CVSS scores: 8.1–9.3) that could enable:

• Remote Code Execution (RCE)

• Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks

• Privilege escalation in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS environments

Why should developers care? Unpatched systems risk complete compromise, especially in DevOps pipelines using MongoDB for logging or analytics.

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Vulnerability Breakdown

1. Memory Corruption Flaws (CVE-2024-6381, CVE-2024-6383)

Discovered by security researcher Karman Liu, these bugs stem from:

• Improper bounds checking in BSON parsing

• Heap overflow during bulk operation processing

• Race conditions in connection pooling

Affected Systems:

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (noble): High-risk RCE vector

• Ubuntu 22.04/20.04 LTS: DoS-only exploitation

2. Zero-Day Risk (CVE-2025-0755)

This Ubuntu 24.04-specific flaw allows attackers to:
✅ Bypass authentication via malformed OP_MSG packets
✅ Inject shell commands through driver logging functions

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Patch Instructions

Immediate Action Required:

bash

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade libmongoc-1.0-0 libbson-1.0-0

Ubuntu Version	Package	Secure Version
24.04 LTS	libmongoc-dev	1.26.0-1.1ubuntu2+esm1
22.04 LTS	libbson-1.0-0	1.21.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
20.04 LTS	libmongoc-dev	1.16.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm1

Pro Tip: Ubuntu Pro users receive automated patching for 25,000+ packages. Get free 5-machine coverage →

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Mitigation Strategies

1. Network Controls:

   • Block external access to MongoDB ports (27017/tcp)

   • Implement TLS 1.3 for driver-database communication

2. Runtime Protection:

   c

   mongoc_client_t *client = mongoc_client_new_with_error_streams(
     "mongodb://[user:pass@]host1[:port1]/admin?tls=true&socketTimeoutMS=3000",
     stderr /* error_stream */);

   Code snippet: Secure client initialization with timeout

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FAQ: MongoDB C Driver Security

Q: Can Docker containers mitigate these flaws?

A: Only if using patched base images (e.g., ubuntu:24.04-esm).

Q: Is this related to the Linux sudo vulnerability?

A: No, but similar memory-safety issues plague both systems.