Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2024-57901: Linux Kernel denial of service in af_packet VLAN handling

CVE-2024-57901 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2025-01-15

Technologies: Linux Kernel. Vendors: Linux.

Executive brief

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's networking component could allow a local user to crash the system. The issue occurs when the system processes specific types of network traffic (VLAN packets) using a common diagnostic operation. This could lead to a denial-of-service condition, impacting the availability of the affected server or device.

Technical details

A vulnerability in af_packet.c within the Linux kernel arises from improper handling of the MSG_PEEK flag in vlan_get_protocol_dgram(). The function previously modified the socket buffer (skb) using skb_push() to determine the protocol, which is unsafe when multiple CPUs access the same skb or when MSG_PEEK is used. This leads to an 'skb_under_panic' kernel BUG. The fix reworks vlan_get_protocol_dgram() to use a new helper, __vlan_get_protocol_offset(), which queries the protocol without modifying the skb structure. This vulnerability is reachable by local users via crafted socket calls.

Affected products

  • Linux Linux Kernel 4.19.320 to 4.20, 5.4.282 to 5.4.289, 5.10.224 to 5.10.233, 5.15.165 to 5.15.176, 6.1.103 to 6.1.124, 6.6.44 to 6.6.70, 6.10.3 to 6.12.9, 6.13-rc1 to 6.13-rc4

Timeline

  • 2024-12-30: patched: Initial patch submitted by Eric Dumazet
  • 2025-01-15: advisory: CVE-2024-57901 published

References

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