CVE-2024-38558
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 · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: fix overwriting ct original tuple for ICMPv6 OVS_PACKET_CMD_EXECUTE has 3 main attributes: - OVS_PACKET_ATTR_KEY - Packet metadata in a netlink format. - OVS_PACKET_ATTR_PACKET - Binary packet content. - OVS_PACKET_ATTR_ACTIONS - Actions to execute on the packet. OVS_PACKET_ATTR_KEY is parsed first to populate sw_flow_key structure with the metadata like conntrack state, input port, recirculation id, etc. Then the packet itself gets parsed to populate the rest of the keys from the packet headers. Whenever the packet parsing code starts parsing the ICMPv6 header, it first zeroes out fields in the key corresponding to Neighbor Discovery information even if it is not an ND packet. It is an 'ipv6.nd' field. However, the 'ipv6' is a union that shares the space between 'nd' and 'ct_orig' that holds the original tuple conntrack metadata parsed from the OVS_PACKET_ATTR_KEY. ND packets should not normally have conntrack state, so it's fine to share the space, but normal ICMPv6 Echo packets or maybe other types of ICMPv6 can have the state attached and it should not be overwritten. The issue results in all but the last 4 bytes of the destination address being wiped from the original conntrack tuple leading to incorrect packet matching and potentially executing wrong actions in case this packet recirculates within the datapath or goes back to userspace. ND fields should not be accessed in non-ND packets, so not clearing them should be fine. Executing memset() only for actual ND packets to avoid the issue. Initializing the whole thing before parsing is needed because ND packet may not contain all the options. The issue only affects the OVS_PACKET_CMD_EXECUTE path and doesn't affect packets entering OVS datapath from network interfaces, because in this case CT metadata is populated from skb after the packet is already parsed.
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 analysisA detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.
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>= 4.11, < 4.19.316>= 4.20, < 5.4.278>= 5.5, < 5.10.219>= 5.11, < 5.15.161>= 5.16, < 6.1.93>= 6.2, < 6.6.33>= 6.7, < 6.8.12>= 6.9, < 6.9.3CVSS 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 · scoped4.19.3165.4.2785.10.219
Linux kernel >= 4.19.316 (for 4.19.x branch), >= 5.4.278 (for 5.4.x branch), >= 5.10.219 (for 5.10.x branch), or >= 5.15.161 (for 5.15.x branch)
- Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r'
- Determine which version branch your kernel comes from (e.g., 5.15.x, 5.10.x, 5.4.x, 4.19.x)
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix: for 5.15.x upgrade to >=5.15.161, for 5.10.x upgrade to >=5.10.219, for 5.4.x upgrade to >=5.4.278, for 4.19.x upgrade to >=4.19.316
- Reboot the system to load the new kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version matches or exceeds the fixed release
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-38558 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-38558 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data