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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-36972

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.161 / 6.1.93 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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: af_unix: Update unix_sk(sk)->oob_skb under sk_receive_queue lock. Billy Jheng Bing-Jhong reported a race between __unix_gc() and queue_oob(). __unix_gc() tries to garbage-collect close()d inflight sockets, and then if the socket has MSG_OOB in unix_sk(sk)->oob_skb, GC will drop the reference and set NULL to it locklessly. However, the peer socket still can send MSG_OOB message and queue_oob() can update unix_sk(sk)->oob_skb concurrently, leading NULL pointer dereference. [0] To fix the issue, let's update unix_sk(sk)->oob_skb under the sk_receive_queue's lock and take it everywhere we touch oob_skb. Note that we defer kfree_skb() in manage_oob() to silence lockdep false-positive (See [1]). [0]: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page PGD 8000000009f5e067 P4D 8000000009f5e067 PUD 9f5d067 PMD 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 3 PID: 50 Comm: kworker/3:1 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc5-00191-gd091e579b864 #110 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: events delayed_fput RIP: 0010:skb_dequeue (./include/linux/skbuff.h:2386 ./include/linux/skbuff.h:2402 net/core/skbuff.c:3847) Code: 39 e3 74 3e 8b 43 10 48 89 ef 83 e8 01 89 43 10 49 8b 44 24 08 49 c7 44 24 08 00 00 00 00 49 8b 14 24 49 c7 04 24 00 00 00 00 <48> 89 42 08 48 89 10 e8 e7 c5 42 00 4c 89 e0 5b 5d 41 5c c3 cc cc RSP: 0018:ffffc900001bfd48 EFLAGS: 00000002 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8880088f5ae8 RCX: 00000000361289f9 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000206 RDI: ffff8880088f5b00 RBP: ffff8880088f5b00 R08: 0000000000080000 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff8880056b6a00 R13: ffff8880088f5280 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: ffff8880088f5a80 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88807dd80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000008 CR3: 0000000006314000 CR4: 00000000007506f0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> unix_release_sock (net/unix/af_unix.c:654) unix_release (net/unix/af_unix.c:1050) __sock_release (net/socket.c:660) sock_close (net/socket.c:1423) __fput (fs/file_table.c:423) delayed_fput (fs/file_table.c:444 (discriminator 3)) process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3259) worker_thread (kernel/workqueue.c:3329 kernel/workqueue.c:3416) kthread (kernel/kthread.c:388) ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:153) ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:257) </TASK> Modules linked in: CR2: 0000000000000008

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:>= 5.15.149, < 5.15.161>= 6.1.78, < 6.1.93>= 6.6.17, < 6.6.33>= 6.7.5, < 6.9.4

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 5.15.161 / 6.1.93 / 6.6.33 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1616.1.936.6.33
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.15.161 / 6.1.93 / 6.6.33 / 6.9.4 (or later stable release)

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. Determine which major kernel branch your version belongs to (5.15.x, 6.1.x, 6.6.x, or 6.7.x/6.8.x)
  3. Obtain and install the appropriate fixed kernel version: 5.15.161+ for 5.15.x, 6.1.93+ for 6.1.x, 6.6.33+ for 6.6.x, or 6.9.4+ for 6.7.x-6.8.x
  4. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  5. Verify the kernel version after reboot with 'uname -r' to confirm the fix is applied
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding out-of-tree kernel modules; ensure driver compatibility before upgrading in production environments

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 $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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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-2024-36972 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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