Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2024-26804 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 15th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-24066
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ip_tunnel: prevent perpetual headroom growth syzkaller triggered following kasan splat: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __skb_flow_dissect+0x19d1/0x7a50 net/core/flow_dissector.c:1170 Read of size 1 at addr ffff88812fb4000e by task syz-executor183/5191 [..] kasan_report+0xda/0x110 mm/kasan/report.c:588…
more
__skb_flow_dissect+0x19d1/0x7a50 net/core/flow_dissector.c:1170 skb_flow_dissect_flow_keys include/linux/skbuff.h:1514 [inline] ___skb_get_hash net/core/flow_dissector.c:1791 [inline] __skb_get_hash+0xc7/0x540 net/core/flow_dissector.c:1856 skb_get_hash include/linux/skbuff.h:1556 [inline] ip_tunnel_xmit+0x1855/0x33c0 net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:748 ipip_tunnel_xmit+0x3cc/0x4e0 net/ipv4/ipip.c:308 __netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4940 [inline] netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4954 [inline] xmit_one net/core/dev.c:3548 [inline] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x13d/0x6d0 net/core/dev.c:3564 __dev_queue_xmit+0x7c1/0x3d60 net/core/dev.c:4349 dev_queue_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:3134 [inline] neigh_connected_output+0x42c/0x5d0 net/core/neighbour.c:1592 ... ip_finish_output2+0x833/0x2550 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:235 ip_finish_output+0x31/0x310 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:323 .. iptunnel_xmit+0x5b4/0x9b0 net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:82 ip_tunnel_xmit+0x1dbc/0x33c0 net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:831 ipgre_xmit+0x4a1/0x980 net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:665 __netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4940 [inline] netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4954 [inline] xmit_one net/core/dev.c:3548 [inline] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x13d/0x6d0 net/core/dev.c:3564 ... The splat occurs because skb->data points past skb->head allocated area. This is because neigh layer does: __skb_pull(skb, skb_network_offset(skb)); ... but skb_network_offset() returns a negative offset and __skb_pull() arg is unsigned. IOW, we skb->data gets "adjusted" by a huge value. The negative value is returned because skb->head and skb->data distance is more than 64k and skb->network_header (u16) has wrapped around. The bug is in the ip_tunnel infrastructure, which can cause dev->needed_headroom to increment ad infinitum. The syzkaller reproducer consists of packets getting routed via a gre tunnel, and route of gre encapsulated packets pointing at another (ipip) tunnel. The ipip encapsulation finds gre0 as next output device. This results in the following pattern: 1). First packet is to be sent out via gre0. Route lookup found an output device, ipip0. 2). ip_tunnel_xmit for gre0 bumps gre0->needed_headroom based on the future output device, rt.dev->needed_headroom (ipip0). 3). ip output / start_xmit moves skb on to ipip0. which runs the same code path again (xmit recursion). 4). Routing step for the post-gre0-encap packet finds gre0 as output device to use for ipip0 encapsulated packet. tunl0->needed_headroom is then incremented based on the (already bumped) gre0 device headroom. This repeats for every future packet: gre0->needed_headroom gets inflated because previous packets' ipip0 step incremented rt->dev (gre0) headroom, and ipip0 incremented because gre0 needed_headroom was increased. For each subsequent packet, gre/ipip0->needed_headroom grows until post-expand-head reallocations result in a skb->head/data distance of more than 64k. Once that happens, skb->network_header (u16) wraps around when pskb_expand_head tries to make sure that skb_network_offset() is unchanged after the headroom expansion/reallocation. After this skb_network_offset(skb) returns a different (and negative) result post headroom expansion. The next trip to neigh layer (or anything else that would __skb_pull the network header) makes skb->data point to a memory location outside skb->head area. v2: Cap the needed_headroom update to an arbitarily chosen upperlimit to prevent perpetual increase instead of dropping the headroom increment completely.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V1.4.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.
Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.
Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.
Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.
Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.
Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.
Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416