Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-49856

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.168 / 6.1.113 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: x86/sgx: Fix deadlock in SGX NUMA node search When the current node doesn't have an EPC section configured by firmware and all other EPC sections are used up, CPU can get stuck inside the while loop that looks for an available EPC page from remote nodes indefinitely, leading to a soft lockup. Note how nid_of_current will never be equal to nid in that while loop because nid_of_current is not set in sgx_numa_mask. Also worth mentioning is that it's perfectly fine for the firmware not to setup an EPC section on a node. While setting up an EPC section on each node can enhance performance, it is not a requirement for functionality. Rework the loop to start and end on *a* node that has SGX memory. This avoids the deadlock looking for the current SGX-lacking node to show up in the loop when it never will.

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-835

Crafted input drives a loop whose exit condition is never satisfied, hanging the thread and starving the service of the resource it occupies. A single request can be enough to take a worker down. Remediation is bounding iteration counts and validating the conditions that are supposed to terminate the loop.

General guidance for the infinite loop 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:>= 5.13, < 5.15.168>= 5.16, < 6.1.113>= 6.2, < 6.6.54>= 6.7, < 6.10.13>= 6.11, < 6.11.2

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 5.15.168 / 6.1.113 / 6.6.54 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1686.1.1136.6.54
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.15.168+, 6.1.113+, 6.6.54+, or 6.10+ depending on which version line you are on

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Check which of the affected version ranges your kernel falls into
  3. Upgrade to a fixed kernel release: for 5.15.x line upgrade to >= 5.15.168, for 6.1.x line upgrade to >= 6.1.113, for 6.2-6.6.x upgrade to >= 6.6.54, for 6.7-6.10.x upgrade to >= 6.10.13
  4. Use your distribution's package manager to install the updated kernel (e.g., `apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>` for Debian/Ubuntu, or `yum update kernel` for RHEL/CentOS)
  5. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or specific hardware drivers; test in staging if possible

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

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-49856 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-49856 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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