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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-40960

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-07-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.19.317 / 5.4.279 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 possible NULL dereference in rt6_probe() syzbot caught a NULL dereference in rt6_probe() [1] Bail out if __in6_dev_get() returns NULL. [1] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000cb: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000658-0x000000000000065f] CPU: 1 PID: 22444 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.10.0-rc2-syzkaller-00383-gb8481381d4e2 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 04/02/2024 RIP: 0010:rt6_probe net/ipv6/route.c:656 [inline] RIP: 0010:find_match+0x8c4/0xf50 net/ipv6/route.c:758 Code: 14 fd f7 48 8b 85 38 ff ff ff 48 c7 45 b0 00 00 00 00 48 8d b8 5c 06 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <0f> b6 14 02 48 89 f8 83 e0 07 83 c0 03 38 d0 7c 08 84 d2 0f 85 19 RSP: 0018:ffffc900034af070 EFLAGS: 00010203 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffffc90004521000 RDX: 00000000000000cb RSI: ffffffff8990d0cd RDI: 000000000000065c RBP: ffffc900034af150 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000002 R12: 000000000000000a R13: 1ffff92000695e18 R14: ffff8880244a1d20 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f4844a5a6c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9300000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000001b31b27000 CR3: 000000002d42c000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> rt6_nh_find_match+0xfa/0x1a0 net/ipv6/route.c:784 nexthop_for_each_fib6_nh+0x26d/0x4a0 net/ipv4/nexthop.c:1496 __find_rr_leaf+0x6e7/0xe00 net/ipv6/route.c:825 find_rr_leaf net/ipv6/route.c:853 [inline] rt6_select net/ipv6/route.c:897 [inline] fib6_table_lookup+0x57e/0xa30 net/ipv6/route.c:2195 ip6_pol_route+0x1cd/0x1150 net/ipv6/route.c:2231 pol_lookup_func include/net/ip6_fib.h:616 [inline] fib6_rule_lookup+0x386/0x720 net/ipv6/fib6_rules.c:121 ip6_route_output_flags_noref net/ipv6/route.c:2639 [inline] ip6_route_output_flags+0x1d0/0x640 net/ipv6/route.c:2651 ip6_dst_lookup_tail.constprop.0+0x961/0x1760 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1147 ip6_dst_lookup_flow+0x99/0x1d0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1250 rawv6_sendmsg+0xdab/0x4340 net/ipv6/raw.c:898 inet_sendmsg+0x119/0x140 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:853 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:745 [inline] sock_write_iter+0x4b8/0x5c0 net/socket.c:1160 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:497 [inline] vfs_write+0x6b6/0x1140 fs/read_write.c:590 ksys_write+0x1f8/0x260 fs/read_write.c:643 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x250 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:>= 2.6.17, < 4.19.317>= 4.20, < 5.4.279>= 5.5, < 5.10.221>= 5.11, < 5.15.162>= 5.16, < 6.1.96>= 6.2, < 6.6.36>= 6.7, < 6.9.7= 6.10

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 4.19.317 / 5.4.279 / 5.10.221 or later
Fixed in 4.19.3175.4.2795.10.221
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to one of: 4.19.317+, 5.4.279+, 5.10.221+, or 5.15162+ depending on your current branch

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which version branch your kernel belongs to (e.g., 4.19.x, 5.4.x, 5.10.x, or 5.15.x)
  3. For 4.19.x kernels: upgrade to version 4.19.317 or later
  4. For 5.4.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.4.279 or later
  5. For 5.10.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.10.221 or later
  6. For 5.15.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.15.162 or later
  7. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  8. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming rt6_probe() handles NULL from __in6_dev_get()
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility changes with existing drivers or modules

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

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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-2024-40960 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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