CVE-2024-40954

Linux kernel: use-after-free

Risk score: 65/100
CVSS: 7.8 v3.1
Exploit chance (30 days): 0.3%
Published: 12 Jul 2024

Open in the live forecast Today's forecast

What to know

What it is: A vulnerability in the Linux kernel allows an attacker to trigger a use-after-free by attaching an fentry probe to __sock_release() and calling the bpf_get_socket_cookie() helper. This could lead to a KASAN enabled kernel logging a slab-use-after-free error.
Affected: {'product': 'linux kernel', 'version': '6.10.0-rc2+'}
Fix: Check the linked advisory for a fix
Exploitation: No known exploitation

Story map

Story map: the flaws, the fix, how it unfolded and what it connects to. Boxes link to the record or article.

At a glance

Linux kernel: Amber, patch this week. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: restore network header before routing and forwarding ipv6_srh_rcv() runs with skb->data at the Segment Routing Header (SRH) while skb_network_header() points at the IPv6 header. When segments_left > 0, ipv6_srh_rcv() previously restored the …

The flaws

CVE-2024-40954: Use-after-free (CVSS 7.8 · EPSS 0%)
CVE-2026-98096: Out-of-bounds write (CVSS 7.4 · EPSS 1%)
CVE-2026-98115: Race condition (CVSS 8.8 · EPSS 0%)
CVE-2026-98117: Use-after-free (CVSS 7.8 · EPSS 0%)

The fix

Fix: Apply the vendor's security update; see the linked advisory.

Who is exposed: Linux kernel

Where it stands

No known exploitation

How it unfolded

6 Nov, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-9002-1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities

Connects to

Same weakness: Use-after-free (CWE-416). 399 other warnings in 30 days
Same product: Earlier Linux kernel warnings. 156 in the last 90 days

Why it is Amber

CVSS 7.8 high
On your watchlist: linux kernel
Named in a government or vendor bulletin

Government and vendor bulletins

USN-9002-1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities

References

Original description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: do not leave a dangling sk pointer, when socket creation fails It is possible to trigger a use-after-free by: * attaching an fentry probe to __sock_release() and the probe calling the bpf_get_socket_cookie() helper * running traceroute -I 1.1.1.1 on a freshly booted VM A KASAN enabled kernel will log something like below (decoded and stripped): ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __sock_gen_cookie (./arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_64.h:15 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-arch-fallback.h:2583 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:1611 net/core/sock_diag.c:29) Read of size 8 at addr ffff888007110dd8 by task traceroute/299 CPU: 2 PID: 299 Comm: traceroute Tainted: G E 6.10.0-rc2+ #2 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:117 (discriminator 1)) print_report (mm/kasan/report.c:378 mm/kasan/report.c:488) ? __sock_gen_cookie (./arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_64.h:15 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-arch-fallback.h:2583 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:1611 net/core/sock_diag.c:29) kasan_report (mm/kasan/report.c:603) ? __sock_gen_cookie (./arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_64.h:15 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-arch-fallback.h:2583 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:1611 net/core/sock_diag.c:29) kasan_check_range (mm/kasan/generic.c:183 mm/kasan/generic.c:189) __sock_gen_cookie (./arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_64.h:15 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-arch-fallback.h:2583 ./include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:1611 net/core/sock_diag.c:29) bpf_get_socket_ptr_cookie (./arch/x86/include/asm/preempt.h:94 ./include/linux/sock_diag.h:42 net/core/filter.c:5094 net/core/filter.c:5092) bpf_prog_875642cf11f1d139___sock_release+0x6e/0x8e bpf_trampoline_6442506592+0x47/0xaf __sock_release (net/socket.c:652) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1601) ... Allocated by task 299 on cpu 2 at 78.328492s: kasan_save_stack (mm/kasan/common.c:48) kasan_save_track (mm/kasan/common.c:68) __kasan_slab_alloc (mm/kasan/common.c:312 mm/kasan/common.c:338) kmem_cache_alloc_noprof (mm/slub.c:3941 mm/slub.c:4000 mm/slub.c:4007) sk_prot_alloc (net/core/sock.c:2075) sk_alloc (net/core/sock.c:2134) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:327 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:252) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1572) __sys_socket (net/socket.c:1660 net/socket.c:1644 net/socket.c:1706) __x64_sys_socket (net/socket.c:1718) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130) Freed by task 299 on cpu 2 at 78.328502s: kasan_save_stack (mm/kasan/common.c:48) kasan_save_track (mm/kasan/common.c:68) kasan_save_free_info (mm/kasan/generic.c:582) poison_slab_object (mm/kasan/common.c:242) __kasan_slab_free (mm/kasan/common.c:256) kmem_cache_free (mm/slub.c:4437 mm/slub.c:4511) __sk_destruct (net/core/sock.c:2117 net/core/sock.c:2208) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:397 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:252) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1572) __sys_socket (net/socket.c:1660 net/socket.c:1644 net/socket.c:1706) __x64_sys_socket (net/socket.c:1718) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130) Fix this by clearing the struct socket reference in sk_common_release() to cover all protocol families create functions, which may already attached the reference to the sk object with sock_init_data().

Last activity 6 Nov 2026. Patch Forecast updates every hour.