Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-43900

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel ≤ 6.1.105

Published
26 August 2024
Modified
03 November 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0021 12th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-43900 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 Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 12th 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

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: xc2028: avoid use-after-free in load_firmware_cb() syzkaller reported use-after-free in load_firmware_cb() [1]. The reason is because the module allocated a struct tuner in tuner_probe(), and then the module initialization failed,…

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the struct tuner was released. A worker which created during module initialization accesses this struct tuner later, it caused use-after-free. The process is as follows: task-6504 worker_thread tuner_probe <= alloc dvb_frontend [2] ... request_firmware_nowait <= create a worker ... tuner_remove <= free dvb_frontend ... request_firmware_work_func <= the firmware is ready load_firmware_cb <= but now the dvb_frontend has been freed To fix the issue, check the dvd_frontend in load_firmware_cb(), if it is null, report a warning and just return. [1]: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in load_firmware_cb+0x1310/0x17a0 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8000d7ca2308 by task kworker/2:3/6504 Call trace: load_firmware_cb+0x1310/0x17a0 request_firmware_work_func+0x128/0x220 process_one_work+0x770/0x1824 worker_thread+0x488/0xea0 kthread+0x300/0x430 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 Allocated by task 6504: kzalloc tuner_probe+0xb0/0x1430 i2c_device_probe+0x92c/0xaf0 really_probe+0x678/0xcd0 driver_probe_device+0x280/0x370 __device_attach_driver+0x220/0x330 bus_for_each_drv+0x134/0x1c0 __device_attach+0x1f4/0x410 device_initial_probe+0x20/0x30 bus_probe_device+0x184/0x200 device_add+0x924/0x12c0 device_register+0x24/0x30 i2c_new_device+0x4e0/0xc44 v4l2_i2c_new_subdev_board+0xbc/0x290 v4l2_i2c_new_subdev+0xc8/0x104 em28xx_v4l2_init+0x1dd0/0x3770 Freed by task 6504: kfree+0x238/0x4e4 tuner_remove+0x144/0x1c0 i2c_device_remove+0xc8/0x290 __device_release_driver+0x314/0x5fc device_release_driver+0x30/0x44 bus_remove_device+0x244/0x490 device_del+0x350/0x900 device_unregister+0x28/0xd0 i2c_unregister_device+0x174/0x1d0 v4l2_device_unregister+0x224/0x380 em28xx_v4l2_init+0x1d90/0x3770 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8000d7ca2000 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-2k of size 2048 The buggy address is located 776 bytes inside of 2048-byte region [ffff8000d7ca2000, ffff8000d7ca2800) The buggy address belongs to the page: page:ffff7fe00035f280 count:1 mapcount:0 mapping:ffff8000c001f000 index:0x0 flags: 0x7ff800000000100(slab) raw: 07ff800000000100 ffff7fe00049d880 0000000300000003 ffff8000c001f000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000080100010 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff8000d7ca2200: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff8000d7ca2280: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb >ffff8000d7ca2300: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff8000d7ca2380: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff8000d7ca2400: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ================================================================== [2] Actually, it is allocated for struct tuner, and dvb_frontend is inside.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
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.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2023-1118Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-53559Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-1195Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-21928Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-31583Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-35986Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-43084Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
≤ 6.1.105 · 6.2 — 6.6.46 · 6.7 — 6.10.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • 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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

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

Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

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` (authoritative 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. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416

References