CVE-2024-29050 is a security vulnerability in Windows' cryptographic services, particularly in how certificates are processed during cryptographic operations. The issue stems from an integer overflow, which occurs when calculations on data like file sizes or buffer lengths exceed the allowable limit for a variable, causing the system to miscalculate or mismanage memory.
In this case, the cryptographic function mishandles certain certificate data, leading to incorrect memory management. Attackers could exploit this flaw by feeding the system specially crafted inputs (e.g., oversized certificates or manipulated data fields), causing the system to overwrite memory sections. This could lead to unexpected behavior, such as crashing the system or, in more serious cases, allowing attackers to execute malicious code remotely.
Think of it like a calculator designed to handle only numbers up to a certain size, but if you input a number beyond that limit, it "wraps around" and gives incorrect results. Similarly, the system miscalculates how much memory to allocate or free, leading to vulnerabilities that an attacker could take advantage of.