dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-38611

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.236 / 5.15.180 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: media: i2c: et8ek8: Don't strip remove function when driver is builtin Using __exit for the remove function results in the remove callback being discarded with CONFIG_VIDEO_ET8EK8=y. When such a device gets unbound (e.g. using sysfs or hotplug), the driver is just removed without the cleanup being performed. This results in resource leaks. Fix it by compiling in the remove callback unconditionally. This also fixes a W=1 modpost warning: WARNING: modpost: drivers/media/i2c/et8ek8/et8ek8: section mismatch in reference: et8ek8_i2c_driver+0x10 (section: .data) -> et8ek8_remove (section: .exit.text)

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-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak 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:>= 4.11, < 5.10.236>= 5.11, < 5.15.180>= 5.16, < 6.1.133>= 6.2, < 6.6.33>= 6.7, < 6.8.12>= 6.9, < 6.9.3

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 5.10.236 / 5.15.180 / 6.1.133 or later
Fixed in 5.10.2365.15.1806.1.133
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel 5.10.236 / 5.15.180 / 6.1.133 / 6.6.33 or later (whichever stable branch applies)

  1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. Determine which affected kernel branch you're running (e.g., 5.10.x, 5.15.x, 6.1.x, or 6.2.x+)
  3. Upgrade to a fixed stable release: 5.10.236 or later for 5.10.x branches, 5.15.180 or later for 5.15.x branches, 6.1.133 or later for 6.1.x branches, or 6.6.33 or later for 6.2.x/6.3.x/6.4.x/6.5.x/6.6.x branches
  4. Update the kernel package via the distribution's package manager (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get upgrade on Debian/Ubuntu, yum update on RHEL/CentOS, or dnf update on Fedora)
  5. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Caveat Upgrading kernel versions may require system reboot and could introduce regressions in other drivers; ensure compatibility with hardware and critical software before deploying in production

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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-38611 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-38611 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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