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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-50252

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.116 / 6.6.60 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: mlxsw: spectrum_ipip: Fix memory leak when changing remote IPv6 address The device stores IPv6 addresses that are used for encapsulation in linear memory that is managed by the driver. Changing the remote address of an ip6gre net device never worked properly, but since cited commit the following reproducer [1] would result in a warning [2] and a memory leak [3]. The problem is that the new remote address is never added by the driver to its hash table (and therefore the device) and the old address is never removed from it. Fix by programming the new address when the configuration of the ip6gre net device changes and removing the old one. If the address did not change, then the above would result in increasing the reference count of the address and then decreasing it. [1] # ip link add name bla up type ip6gre local 2001:db8:1::1 remote 2001:db8:2::1 tos inherit ttl inherit # ip link set dev bla type ip6gre remote 2001:db8:3::1 # ip link del dev bla # devlink dev reload pci/0000:01:00.0 [2] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1682 at drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxsw/spectrum.c:3002 mlxsw_sp_ipv6_addr_put+0x140/0x1d0 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1682 Comm: ip Not tainted 6.12.0-rc3-custom-g86b5b55bc835 #151 Hardware name: Nvidia SN5600/VMOD0013, BIOS 5.13 05/31/2023 RIP: 0010:mlxsw_sp_ipv6_addr_put+0x140/0x1d0 [...] Call Trace: <TASK> mlxsw_sp_router_netdevice_event+0x55f/0x1240 notifier_call_chain+0x5a/0xd0 call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x39/0x90 unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0x63e/0x9d0 rtnl_dellink+0x16b/0x3a0 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x142/0x3f0 netlink_rcv_skb+0x50/0x100 netlink_unicast+0x242/0x390 netlink_sendmsg+0x1de/0x420 ____sys_sendmsg+0x2bd/0x320 ___sys_sendmsg+0x9a/0xe0 __sys_sendmsg+0x7a/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x9e/0x1a0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [3] unreferenced object 0xffff898081f597a0 (size 32): comm "ip", pid 1626, jiffies 4294719324 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 20 01 0d b8 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 ............... 21 49 61 83 80 89 ff ff 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 !Ia............. backtrace (crc fd9be911): [<00000000df89c55d>] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x1da/0x260 [<00000000ff2a1ddb>] mlxsw_sp_ipv6_addr_kvdl_index_get+0x281/0x340 [<000000009ddd445d>] mlxsw_sp_router_netdevice_event+0x47b/0x1240 [<00000000743e7757>] notifier_call_chain+0x5a/0xd0 [<000000007c7b9e13>] call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x39/0x90 [<000000002509645d>] register_netdevice+0x5f7/0x7a0 [<00000000c2e7d2a9>] ip6gre_newlink_common.isra.0+0x65/0x130 [<0000000087cd6d8d>] ip6gre_newlink+0x72/0x120 [<000000004df7c7cc>] rtnl_newlink+0x471/0xa20 [<0000000057ed632a>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x142/0x3f0 [<0000000032e0d5b5>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x50/0x100 [<00000000908bca63>] netlink_unicast+0x242/0x390 [<00000000cdbe1c87>] netlink_sendmsg+0x1de/0x420 [<0000000011db153e>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x2bd/0x320 [<000000003b6d53eb>] ___sys_sendmsg+0x9a/0xe0 [<00000000cae27c62>] __sys_sendmsg+0x7a/0xd0

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:>= 5.17, < 6.1.116>= 6.2, < 6.6.60>= 6.7, < 6.11.7= 6.12

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 6.1.116 / 6.6.60 / 6.11.7 or later
Fixed in 6.1.1166.6.606.11.7
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 6.1.116+ (for 5.17-6.1.x), 6.6.60+ (for 6.2-6.6.x), 6.11.7+ (for 6.7-6.11.x), or 6.12.1+ (for 6.12)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which version range your current kernel falls into: 5.17-6.1.x, 6.2-6.6.x, 6.7-6.11.x, or 6.12
  3. Upgrade to the fixed kernel version: 6.1.116 or later (for 5.17 to <6.1.116), 6.6.60 or later (for 6.2 to <6.6.60), 6.11.7 or later (for 6.7 to <6.11.7), or 6.12.1 or later (for 6.12)
  4. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming mlxsw driver loads without memory leak warnings
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply; ensure compatibility with userspace tools and other system components 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

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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-2024-50252 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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