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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-56646

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.12.5 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: ipv6: avoid possible NULL deref in modify_prefix_route() syzbot found a NULL deref [1] in modify_prefix_route(), caused by one fib6_info without a fib6_table pointer set. This can happen for net->ipv6.fib6_null_entry [1] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000006: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000030-0x0000000000000037] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 5837 Comm: syz-executor888 Not tainted 6.12.0-syzkaller-09567-g7eef7e306d3c #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024 RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire+0xe4/0x3c40 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5089 Code: 08 84 d2 0f 85 15 14 00 00 44 8b 0d ca 98 f5 0e 45 85 c9 0f 84 b4 0e 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 4c 89 e2 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 96 2c 00 00 49 8b 04 24 48 3d a0 07 7f 93 0f 84 RSP: 0018:ffffc900035d7268 EFLAGS: 00010006 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000006 RSI: 1ffff920006bae5f RDI: 0000000000000030 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: ffffffff90608e17 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000000030 R13: ffff888036334880 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 0000555579e90380(0000) GS:ffff8880b8700000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007ffc59cc4278 CR3: 0000000072b54000 CR4: 00000000003526f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> lock_acquire.part.0+0x11b/0x380 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5849 __raw_spin_lock_bh include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:126 [inline] _raw_spin_lock_bh+0x33/0x40 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:178 spin_lock_bh include/linux/spinlock.h:356 [inline] modify_prefix_route+0x30b/0x8b0 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:4831 inet6_addr_modify net/ipv6/addrconf.c:4923 [inline] inet6_rtm_newaddr+0x12c7/0x1ab0 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:5055 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x3c7/0xea0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6920 netlink_rcv_skb+0x16b/0x440 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2541 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1321 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x53c/0x7f0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1347 netlink_sendmsg+0x8b8/0xd70 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1891 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:711 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:726 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0xaaf/0xc90 net/socket.c:2583 ___sys_sendmsg+0x135/0x1e0 net/socket.c:2637 __sys_sendmsg+0x16e/0x220 net/socket.c:2669 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7fd1dcef8b79 Code: 28 00 00 00 75 05 48 83 c4 28 c3 e8 c1 17 00 00 90 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffc59cc4378 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007fd1dcef8b79 RDX: 0000000000040040 RSI: 0000000020000140 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 00000000000113fd R08: 0000000000000006 R09: 0000000000000006 R10: 0000000000000006 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007ffc59cc438c R13: 431bde82d7b634db R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000001 </TASK>

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-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference 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:>= 6.9, < 6.12.5= 6.13

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 6.12.5 or later
Fixed in 6.12.5
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.12.5 or later / Latest stable 6.x release

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.12.5 or later, or to the latest stable release that includes the fix (such as 6.13.x if available)
  3. Update the boot loader configuration (e.g., GRUB) to ensure the new kernel will be used on next reboot
  4. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking 'uname -r' shows a version >= 6.12.5
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system downtime 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 $2,850. 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-2024-56646 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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