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-2024-40906 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked at the 22th 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-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-38717
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5: Always stop health timer during driver removal Currently, if teardown_hca fails to execute during driver removal, mlx5 does not stop the health timer. Afterwards, mlx5 continue with driver teardown.…
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This may lead to a UAF bug, which results in page fault Oops[1], since the health timer invokes after resources were freed. Hence, stop the health monitor even if teardown_hca fails. [1] mlx5_core 0000:18:00.0: E-Switch: Unload vfs: mode(LEGACY), nvfs(0), necvfs(0), active vports(0) mlx5_core 0000:18:00.0: E-Switch: Disable: mode(LEGACY), nvfs(0), necvfs(0), active vports(0) mlx5_core 0000:18:00.0: E-Switch: Disable: mode(LEGACY), nvfs(0), necvfs(0), active vports(0) mlx5_core 0000:18:00.0: E-Switch: cleanup mlx5_core 0000:18:00.0: wait_func:1155:(pid 1967079): TEARDOWN_HCA(0x103) timeout. Will cause a leak of a command resource mlx5_core 0000:18:00.0: mlx5_function_close:1288:(pid 1967079): tear_down_hca failed, skip cleanup BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffa26487064230 PGD 100c00067 P4D 100c00067 PUD 100e5a067 PMD 105ed7067 PTE 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G OE ------- --- 6.7.0-68.fc38.x86_64 #1 Hardware name: Intel Corporation S2600WFT/S2600WFT, BIOS SE5C620.86B.02.01.0013.121520200651 12/15/2020 RIP: 0010:ioread32be+0x34/0x60 RSP: 0018:ffffa26480003e58 EFLAGS: 00010292 RAX: ffffa26487064200 RBX: ffff9042d08161a0 RCX: ffff904c108222c0 RDX: 000000010bbf1b80 RSI: ffffffffc055ddb0 RDI: ffffa26487064230 RBP: ffff9042d08161a0 R08: 0000000000000022 R09: ffff904c108222e8 R10: 0000000000000004 R11: 0000000000000441 R12: ffffffffc055ddb0 R13: ffffa26487064200 R14: ffffa26480003f00 R15: ffff904c108222c0 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff904c10800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffffa26487064230 CR3: 00000002c4420006 CR4: 00000000007706f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <IRQ> ? __die+0x23/0x70 ? page_fault_oops+0x171/0x4e0 ? exc_page_fault+0x175/0x180 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 ? __pfx_poll_health+0x10/0x10 [mlx5_core] ? __pfx_poll_health+0x10/0x10 [mlx5_core] ? ioread32be+0x34/0x60 mlx5_health_check_fatal_sensors+0x20/0x100 [mlx5_core] ? __pfx_poll_health+0x10/0x10 [mlx5_core] poll_health+0x42/0x230 [mlx5_core] ? __next_timer_interrupt+0xbc/0x110 ? __pfx_poll_health+0x10/0x10 [mlx5_core] call_timer_fn+0x21/0x130 ? __pfx_poll_health+0x10/0x10 [mlx5_core] __run_timers+0x222/0x2c0 run_timer_softirq+0x1d/0x40 __do_softirq+0xc9/0x2c8 __irq_exit_rcu+0xa6/0xc0 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x72/0x90 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1a/0x20 RIP: 0010:cpuidle_enter_state+0xcc/0x440 ? cpuidle_enter_state+0xbd/0x440 cpuidle_enter+0x2d/0x40 do_idle+0x20d/0x270 cpu_startup_entry+0x2a/0x30 rest_init+0xd0/0xd0 arch_call_rest_init+0xe/0x30 start_kernel+0x709/0xa90 x86_64_start_reservations+0x18/0x30 x86_64_start_kernel+0x96/0xa0 secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0x18f/0x19b ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V1.4.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.
Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.
Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.
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.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
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.
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` (higher-evidence 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. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416