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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-40978

HIGH · 7.1 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 →
73/100
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: scsi: qedi: Fix crash while reading debugfs attribute The qedi_dbg_do_not_recover_cmd_read() function invokes sprintf() directly on a __user pointer, which results into the crash. To fix this issue, use a small local stack buffer for sprintf() and then call simple_read_from_buffer(), which in turns make the copy_to_user() call. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 00007f4801111000 PGD 8000000864df6067 P4D 8000000864df6067 PUD 864df7067 PMD 846028067 PTE 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI Hardware name: HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10/ProLiant DL380 Gen10, BIOS U30 06/15/2023 RIP: 0010:memcpy_orig+0xcd/0x130 RSP: 0018:ffffb7a18c3ffc40 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 00007f4801111000 RBX: 00007f4801111000 RCX: 000000000000000f RDX: 000000000000000f RSI: ffffffffc0bfd7a0 RDI: 00007f4801111000 RBP: ffffffffc0bfd7a0 R08: 725f746f6e5f6f64 R09: 3d7265766f636572 R10: ffffb7a18c3ffd08 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 00007f4881110fff R13: 000000007fffffff R14: ffffb7a18c3ffca0 R15: ffffffffc0bfd7af FS: 00007f480118a740(0000) GS:ffff98e38af00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f4801111000 CR3: 0000000864b8e001 CR4: 00000000007706e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body+0x1a/0x60 ? page_fault_oops+0x183/0x510 ? exc_page_fault+0x69/0x150 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 ? memcpy_orig+0xcd/0x130 vsnprintf+0x102/0x4c0 sprintf+0x51/0x80 qedi_dbg_do_not_recover_cmd_read+0x2f/0x50 [qedi 6bcfdeeecdea037da47069eca2ba717c84a77324] full_proxy_read+0x50/0x80 vfs_read+0xa5/0x2e0 ? folio_add_new_anon_rmap+0x44/0xa0 ? set_pte_at+0x15/0x30 ? do_pte_missing+0x426/0x7f0 ksys_read+0xa5/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x58/0x80 ? __count_memcg_events+0x46/0x90 ? count_memcg_event_mm+0x3d/0x60 ? handle_mm_fault+0x196/0x2f0 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x267/0x890 ? exc_page_fault+0x69/0x150 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc RIP: 0033:0x7f4800f20b4d

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-125

The code reads past the end (or before the start) of a buffer, returning memory that was never meant to be exposed. Attackers use it to leak secrets like keys or to defeat memory-protection defences. Remediation is validating indices and lengths before every read.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds read 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:< 4.19.317>= 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

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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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

Linux kernel >= 4.19.317 (for 4.19.x branch), >= 5.4.279 (for 5.4.x branch), >= 5.10.221 (for 5.10.x branch), >= 5.15.162 (for 5.15.x branch), or any stable/mainline release 5.16+ that includes commit 144d76a676b630e321556965011b00e2de0b40a7

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which branch the current kernel falls into based on the affected version ranges: < 4.19.317, >= 4.20 and < 5.4.279, >= 5.5 and < 5.10.221, or >= 5.11 and < 5.15.162
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed release: 4.19.317 or later, 5.4.279 or later, 5.10.221 or later, 5.15.162 or later, or any version 5.16+ / 6.1+ / 6.6+ / 6.9+ / 6.10+
  4. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel version
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking that the qedi_dbg_do_not_recover_cmd_read function uses simple_read_from_buffer instead of direct sprintf on __user pointer
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting production systems; ensure compatibility with existing user-space tools and drivers before deploying

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

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Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-40978 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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