CVE-2024-5602 National Instruments CVE debrief

Who should care

Organizations using National Instruments I/O TRACE for hardware diagnostics and troubleshooting, particularly in industrial automation, test and measurement, and research environments. Security teams supporting engineering workstations and OT/ICS environments should prioritize this patch due to the high impact potential and common use of file sharing for diagnostic data.

Technical summary

CVE-2024-5602 is a stack-based buffer overflow in National Instruments I/O TRACE, a diagnostic tool used with NI hardware. The vulnerability is triggered when a user opens a specially crafted .nitrace file, potentially allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the running process. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) reflects local attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required, and high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability. National Instruments has provided a security fix; the vendor advisory should be consulted for patch availability and installation guidance.

Defensive priority

HIGH

Recommended defensive actions

• Apply the National Instruments security update for I/O TRACE as referenced in the vendor advisory
• Train users to avoid opening .nitrace files from untrusted sources
• Implement application whitelisting to restrict execution of unauthorized software
• Follow CISA ICS recommended practices for defense-in-depth security controls
• Monitor for suspicious file handling activity in engineering workstations

Evidence notes

CISA ICS Advisory ICSA-24-205-01 confirms the stack-based buffer overflow in I/O TRACE and documents vendor remediation. CVSS vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H indicates local attack vector with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Official resources