Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-26974

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 3.17 – 4.19.312

Published
01 May 2024
Modified
04 August 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-26974 is a high-severity Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (CWE-367) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 10th 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 AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: qat - resolve race condition during AER recovery During the PCI AER system's error recovery process, the kernel driver may encounter a race condition with freeing the reset_data structure's…

more

memory. If the device restart will take more than 10 seconds the function scheduling that restart will exit due to a timeout, and the reset_data structure will be freed. However, this data structure is used for completion notification after the restart is completed, which leads to a UAF bug. This results in a KFENCE bug notice. BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free read in adf_device_reset_worker+0x38/0xa0 [intel_qat] Use-after-free read at 0x00000000bc56fddf (in kfence-#142): adf_device_reset_worker+0x38/0xa0 [intel_qat] process_one_work+0x173/0x340 To resolve this race condition, the memory associated to the container of the work_struct is freed on the worker if the timeout expired, otherwise on the function that schedules the worker. The timeout detection can be done by checking if the caller is still waiting for completion or not by using completion_done() function.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1034 Path Interception Persistence
**This technique has been deprecated.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-26689Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-3609Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39864Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-37885Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38578Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38346Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38377Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38471Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39689Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-52572Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
3.17 — 4.19.312 · 4.20 — 5.4.274 · 5.5 — 5.10.215
debian
debian linux
10.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V15.4.2
  • V17.2.6
  • V1.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

A reference monitor that is always invoked and analyzable structurally eliminates the non-atomic check-then-use pattern underlying TOCTOU.

Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.

Access enforcement that performs an atomic check-and-use decision directly stops the window in which a TOCTOU race can be exploited.

Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.

Process isolation limits the blast radius of a successful TOCTOU exploitation but does not remove the race itself.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly include coding standards and reviews that prevent TOCTOU race conditions.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

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.

finds

Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

prevents

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

References