Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-36901

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.91 / 6.6.31 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: prevent NULL dereference in ip6_output() According to syzbot, there is a chance that ip6_dst_idev() returns NULL in ip6_output(). Most places in IPv6 stack deal with a NULL idev just fine, but not here. syzbot reported: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000bc: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000005e0-0x00000000000005e7] CPU: 0 PID: 9775 Comm: syz-executor.4 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc5-syzkaller-00157-g6a30653b604a #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 03/27/2024 RIP: 0010:ip6_output+0x231/0x3f0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:237 Code: 3c 1e 00 49 89 df 74 08 4c 89 ef e8 19 58 db f7 48 8b 44 24 20 49 89 45 00 49 89 c5 48 8d 9d e0 05 00 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 0f b6 04 38 84 c0 4c 8b 74 24 28 0f 85 61 01 00 00 8b 1b 31 ff RSP: 0018:ffffc9000927f0d8 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 00000000000000bc RBX: 00000000000005e0 RCX: 0000000000040000 RDX: ffffc900131f9000 RSI: 0000000000004f47 RDI: 0000000000004f48 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: ffffffff8a1f0b9a R09: 1ffffffff1f51fad R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff1f51fae R12: ffff8880293ec8c0 R13: ffff88805d7fc000 R14: 1ffff1100527d91a R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 00007f135c6856c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000020000080 CR3: 0000000064096000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:314 [inline] ip6_xmit+0xefe/0x17f0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:358 sctp_v6_xmit+0x9f2/0x13f0 net/sctp/ipv6.c:248 sctp_packet_transmit+0x26ad/0x2ca0 net/sctp/output.c:653 sctp_packet_singleton+0x22c/0x320 net/sctp/outqueue.c:783 sctp_outq_flush_ctrl net/sctp/outqueue.c:914 [inline] sctp_outq_flush+0x6d5/0x3e20 net/sctp/outqueue.c:1212 sctp_side_effects net/sctp/sm_sideeffect.c:1198 [inline] sctp_do_sm+0x59cc/0x60c0 net/sctp/sm_sideeffect.c:1169 sctp_primitive_ASSOCIATE+0x95/0xc0 net/sctp/primitive.c:73 __sctp_connect+0x9cd/0xe30 net/sctp/socket.c:1234 sctp_connect net/sctp/socket.c:4819 [inline] sctp_inet_connect+0x149/0x1f0 net/sctp/socket.c:4834 __sys_connect_file net/socket.c:2048 [inline] __sys_connect+0x2df/0x310 net/socket.c:2065 __do_sys_connect net/socket.c:2075 [inline] __se_sys_connect net/socket.c:2072 [inline] __x64_sys_connect+0x7a/0x90 net/socket.c:2072 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf5/0x240 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 2.6.27, < 6.1.91>= 6.2, < 6.6.31>= 6.7, < 6.8.10

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.1.91 / 6.6.31 / 6.8.10 or later
Fixed in 6.1.916.6.316.8.10
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.1.91 (for 6.1.x), 6.6.31 (for 6.2-6.6.x), or 6.8.10 (for 6.7-6.8.x)

  1. Identify your current kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which version range your kernel falls into (>= 2.6.27 and < 6.1.91, or >= 6.2 and < 6.6.31, or >= 6.7 and < 6.8.10)
  3. For kernels in the 6.1.x LTS branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.1.91 or later
  4. For kernels in the 6.2-6.6.x range: upgrade to kernel version 6.6.31 or later
  5. For kernels in the 6.7-6.8.x range: upgrade to kernel version 6.8.10 or later
  6. Reboot the system to apply the new kernel
  7. Verify the fix is applied by checking that ip6_output() now properly handles NULL idev from ip6_dst_idev()
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules; ensure compatibility with your distribution's kernel packages

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-36901 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-36901 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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