Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2024-42236
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 · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: configfs: Prevent OOB read/write in usb_string_copy() Userspace provided string 's' could trivially have the length zero. Left unchecked this will firstly result in an OOB read in the form `if (str[0 - 1] == '\n') followed closely by an OOB write in the form `str[0 - 1] = '\0'`. There is already a validating check to catch strings that are too long. Let's supply an additional check for invalid strings that are too short.
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 analysisThe program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.
General guidance for the out-of-bounds write 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
< 4.19.318>= 4.20, < 5.4.280>= 5.5, < 5.10.222>= 5.11, < 5.15.163>= 5.16, < 6.1.100>= 6.2, < 6.6.41>= 6.7, < 6.9.10CVSS 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 · scoped4.19.3185.4.2805.10.222
- 1. Locate the usb_string_copy() function in the Linux kernel source code, typically in drivers/usb/gadget/configfs.c
- 2. Find the existing validation check that catches strings that are too long
- 3. Add an additional validation check before the existing length check to reject empty/zero-length strings
- 4. The check should verify that the string length is at least 1 (non-empty) before proceeding with any operations
- 5. Apply the patch commit 2d16f63d8030903e5031853e79d731ee5d474e70 or manually implement the bounds check for zero-length strings
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-42236 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-42236 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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