Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-41066

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-07-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.101 / 6.6.42 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: ibmvnic: Add tx check to prevent skb leak Below is a summary of how the driver stores a reference to an skb during transmit: tx_buff[free_map[consumer_index]]->skb = new_skb; free_map[consumer_index] = IBMVNIC_INVALID_MAP; consumer_index ++; Where variable data looks like this: free_map == [4, IBMVNIC_INVALID_MAP, IBMVNIC_INVALID_MAP, 0, 3] consumer_index^ tx_buff == [skb=null, skb=<ptr>, skb=<ptr>, skb=null, skb=null] The driver has checks to ensure that free_map[consumer_index] pointed to a valid index but there was no check to ensure that this index pointed to an unused/null skb address. So, if, by some chance, our free_map and tx_buff lists become out of sync then we were previously risking an skb memory leak. This could then cause tcp congestion control to stop sending packets, eventually leading to ETIMEDOUT. Therefore, add a conditional to ensure that the skb address is null. If not then warn the user (because this is still a bug that should be patched) and free the old pointer to prevent memleak/tcp problems.

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:< 6.1.101>= 6.2, < 6.6.42>= 6.7, < 6.9.11= 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 6.1.101 / 6.6.42 / 6.9.11 or later
Fixed in 6.1.1016.6.426.9.11
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Linux kernel 6.1.101+, 6.6.42+, 6.9.11+, or the latest stable release (e.g., 6.10.1+ or newer)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Check if the running version is among the affected versions: < 6.1.101, >= 6.2 and < 6.6.42, >= 6.7 and < 6.9.11, or exactly 6.10
  3. If affected, upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed stable release: 6.1.101 or later (for 6.1.x users), 6.6.42 or later (for 6.2-6.6.x users), 6.9.11 or later (for 6.7-6.9.x users), or the latest stable release beyond 6.10 (for 6.10 users)
  4. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the ibmvnic driver no longer has the memory leak issue
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require hardware driver updates; ensure ibmvnic and other platform drivers are compatible with the target kernel version before production deployment

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

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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-2024-41066 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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