Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-46701 is a medium-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 9th 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 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-41962
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: libfs: fix infinite directory reads for offset dir After we switch tmpfs dir operations from simple_dir_operations to simple_offset_dir_operations, every rename happened will fill new dentry to dest dir's maple tree(&SHMEM_I(inode)->dir_offsets->mt)…
more
with a free key starting with octx->newx_offset, and then set newx_offset equals to free key + 1. This will lead to infinite readdir combine with rename happened at the same time, which fail generic/736 in xfstests(detail show as below). 1. create 5000 files(1 2 3...) under one dir 2. call readdir(man 3 readdir) once, and get one entry 3. rename(entry, "TEMPFILE"), then rename("TEMPFILE", entry) 4. loop 2~3, until readdir return nothing or we loop too many times(tmpfs break test with the second condition) We choose the same logic what commit 9b378f6ad48cf ("btrfs: fix infinite directory reads") to fix it, record the last_index when we open dir, and do not emit the entry which index >= last_index. The file->private_data now used in offset dir can use directly to do this, and we also update the last_index when we llseek the dir file. [brauner: only update last_index after seek when offset is zero like Jan suggested]
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover unreachable loop exit conditions through static analysis, fuzzing, or execution tracing.
Flaw remediation processes identify and correct infinite-loop defects reported from testing or operations.
Requiring documented development processes and secure coding standards reduces introduction of loops whose termination conditions are unreachable.
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.
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.
Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.
Secure development life cycle mandates practices that can detect and prevent infinite-loop defects.
Application security requirements can specify loop-termination rules, indirectly reducing the weakness.
Secure coding standards directly address loop termination and prevent infinite loops.
Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.
Change management can require review of loop logic when code is modified.