Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-50084

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 6.6.51 – 6.6.58

Published
29 October 2024
Modified
11 December 2024
Patch / 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-2024-50084 is a medium-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); 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: net: microchip: vcap api: Fix memory leaks in vcap_api_encode_rule_test() Commit a3c1e45156ad ("net: microchip: vcap: Fix use-after-free error in kunit test") fixed the use-after-free error, but introduced below memory leaks by…

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removing necessary vcap_free_rule(), add it to fix it. unreferenced object 0xffffff80ca58b700 (size 192): comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1215, jiffies 4294898264 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 12 7a 00 05 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 ..z.........d... 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 0b cc 80 ff ff ff ................ backtrace (crc 9c09c3fe): [<0000000052a0be73>] kmemleak_alloc+0x34/0x40 [<0000000043605459>] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x26c/0x2f4 [<0000000040a01b8d>] vcap_alloc_rule+0x3cc/0x9c4 [<000000003fe86110>] vcap_api_encode_rule_test+0x1ac/0x16b0 [<00000000b3595fc4>] kunit_try_run_case+0x13c/0x3ac [<0000000010f5d2bf>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x80/0xec [<00000000c5d82c9a>] kthread+0x2e8/0x374 [<00000000f4287308>] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 unreferenced object 0xffffff80cc0b0400 (size 64): comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1215, jiffies 4294898265 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 80 04 0b cc 80 ff ff ff 18 b7 58 ca 80 ff ff ff ..........X..... 39 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 06 05 04 03 02 01 ff ff 9............... backtrace (crc daf014e9): [<0000000052a0be73>] kmemleak_alloc+0x34/0x40 [<0000000043605459>] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x26c/0x2f4 [<000000000ff63fd4>] vcap_rule_add_key+0x2cc/0x528 [<00000000dfdb1e81>] vcap_api_encode_rule_test+0x224/0x16b0 [<00000000b3595fc4>] kunit_try_run_case+0x13c/0x3ac [<0000000010f5d2bf>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x80/0xec [<00000000c5d82c9a>] kthread+0x2e8/0x374 [<00000000f4287308>] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 unreferenced object 0xffffff80cc0b0700 (size 64): comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1215, jiffies 4294898265 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 80 07 0b cc 80 ff ff ff 28 b7 58 ca 80 ff ff ff ........(.X..... 3c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 2f 03 b3 ec ff ff ff <......../...... backtrace (crc 8d877792): [<0000000052a0be73>] kmemleak_alloc+0x34/0x40 [<0000000043605459>] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x26c/0x2f4 [<000000006eadfab7>] vcap_rule_add_action+0x2d0/0x52c [<00000000323475d1>] vcap_api_encode_rule_test+0x4d4/0x16b0 [<00000000b3595fc4>] kunit_try_run_case+0x13c/0x3ac [<0000000010f5d2bf>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x80/0xec [<00000000c5d82c9a>] kthread+0x2e8/0x374 [<00000000f4287308>] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 unreferenced object 0xffffff80cc0b0900 (size 64): comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1215, jiffies 4294898266 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 80 09 0b cc 80 ff ff ff 80 06 0b cc 80 ff ff ff ................ 7d 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 00 00 00 }............... backtrace (crc 34181e56): [<0000000052a0be73>] kmemleak_alloc+0x34/0x40 [<0000000043605459>] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x26c/0x2f4 [<000000000ff63fd4>] vcap_rule_add_key+0x2cc/0x528 [<00000000991e3564>] vcap_val_rule+0xcf0/0x13e8 [<00000000fc9868e5>] vcap_api_encode_rule_test+0x678/0x16b0 [<00000000b3595fc4>] kunit_try_run_case+0x13c/0x3ac [<0000000010f5d2bf>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x80/0xec [<00000000c5d82c9a>] kthread+0x2e8/0x374 [<00000000f4287308>] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 unreferenced object 0xffffff80cc0b0980 (size 64): comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1215, jiffies 4294898266 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 18 b7 58 ca 80 ff ff ff 00 09 0b cc 80 ff ff ff ..X............. 67 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 74 88 c0 ff ff ff g.........t..... backtrace (crc 275fd9be): [<0000000052a0be73>] kmemleak_alloc+0x34/0x40 [<0000000043605459>] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x26c/0x2f4 [<000000000ff63fd4>] vcap_rule_add_key+0x2cc/0x528 [<000000001396a1a2>] test_add_de ---truncated---

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.
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.
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
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.
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-2024-43900Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-1195Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.12 · 6.6.51 — 6.6.58 · 6.10.10 — 6.11 · 6.11 — 6.11.5

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 (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.

Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.

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 enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.

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 unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates memory-management practices that reduce missing-release defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify explicit memory-release rules, partially mitigating the weakness.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles include resource-management guidelines that address memory leaks.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require proper allocation/deallocation, covering most of this weakness.

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