Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-50273

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.19.324 / 5.4.286 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: btrfs: reinitialize delayed ref list after deleting it from the list At insert_delayed_ref() if we need to update the action of an existing ref to BTRFS_DROP_DELAYED_REF, we delete the ref from its ref head's ref_add_list using list_del(), which leaves the ref's add_list member not reinitialized, as list_del() sets the next and prev members of the list to LIST_POISON1 and LIST_POISON2, respectively. If later we end up calling drop_delayed_ref() against the ref, which can happen during merging or when destroying delayed refs due to a transaction abort, we can trigger a crash since at drop_delayed_ref() we call list_empty() against the ref's add_list, which returns false since the list was not reinitialized after the list_del() and as a consequence we call list_del() again at drop_delayed_ref(). This results in an invalid list access since the next and prev members are set to poison pointers, resulting in a splat if CONFIG_LIST_HARDENED and CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST are set or invalid poison pointer dereferences otherwise. So fix this by deleting from the list with list_del_init() instead.

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-908

Memory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.

General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource 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:>= 4.10, < 4.19.324>= 4.20, < 5.4.286>= 5.5, < 5.10.230>= 5.11, < 5.15.172>= 5.16, < 6.1.117>= 6.2, < 6.6.61>= 6.7, < 6.11.8= 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 4.19.324 / 5.4.286 / 5.10.230 or later
Fixed in 4.19.3245.4.2865.10.230
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Kernel 4.19.324+, 5.4.286+, 5.10.230+, or 5.15.172+ (depending on your major version branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Determine which affected version branch your kernel belongs to (4.19.x, 5.4.x, 5.10.x, or 5.15.x)
  3. 3. For 4.19.x kernels: upgrade to kernel version 4.19.324 or later
  4. 4. For 5.4.x kernels: upgrade to kernel version 5.4.286 or later
  5. 5. For 5.10.x kernels: upgrade to kernel version 5.10.230 or later
  6. 6. For 5.15.x kernels: upgrade to kernel version 5.15.172 or later
  7. 7. Apply the vendor patch commit 2cb1a73d1d44a1c11b0ee5eeced765dd80ec48e6 if upgrading is not immediately feasible
  8. 8. Rebuild and reboot the system to the patched kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboots and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or specific hardware drivers; test in staging first

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-2024-50273 — 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-2024-50273 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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