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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-40961

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-07-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.279 / 5.10.221 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 deref in fib6_nh_init() syzbot reminds us that in6_dev_get() can return NULL. fib6_nh_init() ip6_validate_gw( &idev ) ip6_route_check_nh( idev ) *idev = in6_dev_get(dev); // can be NULL Oops: 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: 11237 Comm: syz-executor.3 Not tainted 6.10.0-rc2-syzkaller-00249-gbe27b8965297 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 06/07/2024 RIP: 0010:fib6_nh_init+0x640/0x2160 net/ipv6/route.c:3606 Code: 00 00 fc ff df 4c 8b 64 24 58 48 8b 44 24 28 4c 8b 74 24 30 48 89 c1 48 89 44 24 28 48 8d 98 e0 05 00 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 0f b6 04 38 84 c0 0f 85 b3 17 00 00 8b 1b 31 ff 89 de e8 b8 8b RSP: 0018:ffffc900032775a0 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 00000000000000bc RBX: 00000000000005e0 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000010 RSI: ffffc90003277a54 RDI: ffff88802b3a08d8 RBP: ffffc900032778b0 R08: 00000000000002fc R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 00000000000002fc R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88802b3a08b8 R13: 1ffff9200064eec8 R14: ffffc90003277a00 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 00007f940feb06c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 00000000245e8000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ip6_route_info_create+0x99e/0x12b0 net/ipv6/route.c:3809 ip6_route_add+0x28/0x160 net/ipv6/route.c:3853 ipv6_route_ioctl+0x588/0x870 net/ipv6/route.c:4483 inet6_ioctl+0x21a/0x280 net/ipv6/af_inet6.c:579 sock_do_ioctl+0x158/0x460 net/socket.c:1222 sock_ioctl+0x629/0x8e0 net/socket.c:1341 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f940f07cea9

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:>= 4.17, < 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 5.4.279 / 5.10.221 / 5.15.162 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2795.10.2215.15.162
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

5.4.279, 5.10.221, 5.15.162, or 6.1.96 (whichever branch matches current kernel)

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.4.279 or later if using the 5.4.x branch
  2. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.10.221 or later if using the 5.10.x branch
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.15.162 or later if using the 5.15.x branch
  4. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.1.96 or later if using the 6.1.x branch
  5. Alternatively, apply the upstream commit 2eab4543a2204092c3a7af81d7d6c506e59a03a6 which adds a NULL check for the return value of in6_dev_get() before passing it to ip6_validate_gw()
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility issues with third-party kernel 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-2024-40961 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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