Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-38616

DoS in Linux Kernel 5.17 – 6.1.93

Published
19 June 2024
Modified
01 April 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0065 48th percentile
Risk Priority 62 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-38616 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked at the 48th 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — 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: wifi: carl9170: re-fix fortified-memset warning The carl9170_tx_release() function sometimes triggers a fortified-memset warning in my randconfig builds: In file included from include/linux/string.h:254, from drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/tx.c:40: In function 'fortify_memset_chk', inlined from 'carl9170_tx_release'…

more

at drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/tx.c:283:2, inlined from 'kref_put' at include/linux/kref.h:65:3, inlined from 'carl9170_tx_put_skb' at drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/tx.c:342:9: include/linux/fortify-string.h:493:25: error: call to '__write_overflow_field' declared with attribute warning: detected write beyond size of field (1st parameter); maybe use struct_group()? [-Werror=attribute-warning] 493 | __write_overflow_field(p_size_field, size); Kees previously tried to avoid this by using memset_after(), but it seems this does not fully address the problem. I noticed that the memset_after() here is done on a different part of the union (status) than the original cast was from (rate_driver_data), which may confuse the compiler. Unfortunately, the memset_after() trick does not work on driver_rates[] because that is part of an anonymous struct, and I could not get struct_group() to do this either. Using two separate memset() calls on the two members does address the warning though.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2023-52340Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-39462Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-3108Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-4394Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
5.17 — 6.1.93 · 6.2 — 6.6.33 · 6.7 — 6.8.12

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-5 directly limits the effects of resource-exhaustion events that constitute uncontrolled consumption.

SC-6 enforces explicit allocation limits on resources, structurally preventing the weakness from occurring.

Process isolation confines resource consumption to separate domains, reducing blast radius without stopping the root flaw.

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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

finds

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

finds

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

References