CVE-2024-27012
Linux Kernel 6.4 – 6.8.8
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-2024-27012 is a high-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 19th 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-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-24274
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: restore set elements when delete set fails From abort path, nft_mapelem_activate() needs to restore refcounters to the original state. Currently, it uses the set->ops->walk() to iterate over these…
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set elements. The existing set iterator skips inactive elements in the next generation, this does not work from the abort path to restore the original state since it has to skip active elements instead (not inactive ones). This patch moves the check for inactive elements to the set iterator callback, then it reverses the logic for the .activate case which needs to skip active elements. Toggle next generation bit for elements when delete set command is invoked and call nft_clear() from .activate (abort) path to restore the next generation bit. The splat below shows an object in mappings memleak: [43929.457523] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [43929.457532] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1139 at include/net/netfilter/nf_tables.h:1237 nft_setelem_data_deactivate+0xe4/0xf0 [nf_tables] [...] [43929.458014] RIP: 0010:nft_setelem_data_deactivate+0xe4/0xf0 [nf_tables] [43929.458076] Code: 83 f8 01 77 ab 49 8d 7c 24 08 e8 37 5e d0 de 49 8b 6c 24 08 48 8d 7d 50 e8 e9 5c d0 de 8b 45 50 8d 50 ff 89 55 50 85 c0 75 86 <0f> 0b eb 82 0f 0b eb b3 0f 1f 40 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 [43929.458081] RSP: 0018:ffff888140f9f4b0 EFLAGS: 00010246 [43929.458086] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8881434f5288 RCX: dffffc0000000000 [43929.458090] RDX: 00000000ffffffff RSI: ffffffffa26d28a7 RDI: ffff88810ecc9550 [43929.458093] RBP: ffff88810ecc9500 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffffed10281f3e8f [43929.458096] R10: 0000000000000003 R11: ffff0000ffff0000 R12: ffff8881434f52a0 [43929.458100] R13: ffff888140f9f5f4 R14: ffff888151c7a800 R15: 0000000000000002 [43929.458103] FS: 00007f0c687c4740(0000) GS:ffff888390800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [43929.458107] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [43929.458111] CR2: 00007f58dbe5b008 CR3: 0000000123602005 CR4: 00000000001706f0 [43929.458114] Call Trace: [43929.458118] <TASK> [43929.458121] ? __warn+0x9f/0x1a0 [43929.458127] ? nft_setelem_data_deactivate+0xe4/0xf0 [nf_tables] [43929.458188] ? report_bug+0x1b1/0x1e0 [43929.458196] ? handle_bug+0x3c/0x70 [43929.458200] ? exc_invalid_op+0x17/0x40 [43929.458211] ? nft_setelem_data_deactivate+0xd7/0xf0 [nf_tables] [43929.458271] ? nft_setelem_data_deactivate+0xe4/0xf0 [nf_tables] [43929.458332] nft_mapelem_deactivate+0x24/0x30 [nf_tables] [43929.458392] nft_rhash_walk+0xdd/0x180 [nf_tables] [43929.458453] ? __pfx_nft_rhash_walk+0x10/0x10 [nf_tables] [43929.458512] ? rb_insert_color+0x2e/0x280 [43929.458520] nft_map_deactivate+0xdc/0x1e0 [nf_tables] [43929.458582] ? __pfx_nft_map_deactivate+0x10/0x10 [nf_tables] [43929.458642] ? __pfx_nft_mapelem_deactivate+0x10/0x10 [nf_tables] [43929.458701] ? __rcu_read_unlock+0x46/0x70 [43929.458709] nft_delset+0xff/0x110 [nf_tables] [43929.458769] nft_flush_table+0x16f/0x460 [nf_tables] [43929.458830] nf_tables_deltable+0x501/0x580 [nf_tables]
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.
Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.
Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.
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 enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.
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 unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.
Secure development life cycle mandates memory-management practices that reduce missing-release defects.
Application security requirements can specify explicit memory-release rules, partially mitigating the weakness.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles include resource-management guidelines that address memory leaks.
Secure coding standards directly require proper allocation/deallocation, covering most of this weakness.
Capacity management may detect memory exhaustion symptoms but does not prevent the coding flaw.