Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-38617

Linux Kernel 6.2 – 6.6.33

Published
19 June 2024
Modified
03 October 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS: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-2024-38617 is a medium-severity Release of Invalid Pointer or Reference (CWE-763) 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

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kunit/fortify: Fix mismatched kvalloc()/vfree() usage The kv*() family of tests were accidentally freeing with vfree() instead of kvfree(). Use kvfree() instead.

CWE(s)
CWE-763

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

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CVE-2026-52993Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-46116Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-40979Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.2 — 6.6.33 · 6.7 — 6.8.12 · 6.9 — 6.9.3

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation directly exercises deallocation paths and can find incorrect release calls or mismatched alloc/free pairs.

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

Documented development standards and tools can mandate safe memory-management idioms and static checks that avoid invalid releases.

SA-3 System Development Life Cycle partial match

An SDLC that incorporates security can embed memory-safety requirements, reducing the chance such coding errors are introduced.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles require correct resource management and memory-release patterns that stop invalid pointer releases 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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent invalid pointer release errors during development.

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 invalid pointer releases before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices can mandate proper memory-management APIs and reviews that catch incorrect deallocation.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify correct use of release functions and pointer validation.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include safe memory handling and resource-lifetime rules.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prohibit mismatched or incorrect pointer-release calls.

References