CVE-2024-36966

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 6.6 – 6.6.32

Memory Safety

Published

08 June 2024

Modified

01 October 2025

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 5.5

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0021 11th percentile

Risk Priority 41 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-36966 is a medium-severity Access of Uninitialized Pointer (CWE-824) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 11th 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-2024-36316

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: erofs: reliably distinguish block based and fscache mode When erofs_kill_sb() is called in block dev based mode, s_bdev may not have been initialised yet, and if CONFIG_EROFS_FS_ONDEMAND is enabled, it…

will be mistaken for fscache mode, and then attempt to free an anon_dev that has never been allocated, triggering the following warning: ============================================ ida_free called for id=0 which is not allocated. WARNING: CPU: 14 PID: 926 at lib/idr.c:525 ida_free+0x134/0x140 Modules linked in: CPU: 14 PID: 926 Comm: mount Not tainted 6.9.0-rc3-dirty #630 RIP: 0010:ida_free+0x134/0x140 Call Trace: <TASK> erofs_kill_sb+0x81/0x90 deactivate_locked_super+0x35/0x80 get_tree_bdev+0x136/0x1e0 vfs_get_tree+0x2c/0xf0 do_new_mount+0x190/0x2f0 [...] ============================================ Now when erofs_kill_sb() is called, erofs_sb_info must have been initialised, so use sbi->fsid to distinguish between the two modes.

CWE(s): CWE-824

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.

attack.mitre.org →

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.

attack.mitre.org →

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.

attack.mitre.org →

T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement

Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth

Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.

attack.mitre.org →

T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.

attack.mitre.org →

Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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Affected Assets

linux

linux kernel

6.9 · 6.6 — 6.6.32 · 6.7 — 6.8.11

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover uninitialized pointer accesses through static analysis, dynamic testing, or fuzzing before deployment.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development processes and tools enables use of analyzers or coding standards that identify uninitialized pointer defects.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles can mandate memory-safety practices and language choices that structurally avoid uninitialized pointer use.

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 prevent uninitialized pointer bugs via coding standards, analysis, and reviews, but eliminating this single weakness only partially fulfills the broader control.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match

finds

Security testing can detect uninitialized pointer usage before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that reduce uninitialized pointer defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match

degrades

Application security requirements can specify pointer initialization rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match

degrades

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe pointer handling.