high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-40906·Kernel vulnerability

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. 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 ]---

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.9.6
Published
2024-07-12

Affected versions

From: 6.7

Until: 6.9.6

Fixed in: 6.9.6

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.9.6 or later to resolve this critical use-after-free vulnerability in the mlx5 network driver. The fix ensures the health monitoring timer is properly stopped during driver removal, even when teardown operations fail, preventing memory corruption and kernel panics. Systems running kernel versions 6.7 through 6.9.5 should prioritize this update immediately.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check kernel version: uname -r — verify it is 6.9.6 or later; versions 6.7.x through 6.9.5 are vulnerable
  2. Verify mlx5 driver presence: lspci | grep -i mellanox — if no output, this CVE does not apply to your system
  3. Search kernel logs for health timer failures: sudo dmesg | grep -i 'health' or sudo journalctl -k | grep -i 'health' — look for repeated health check warnings
  4. Monitor for page faults: sudo dmesg | grep -i 'page fault' or grep 'ioread32be' — exploitation typically triggers memory access violations after driver removal

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-40906?

CVE-2024-40906 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's mlx5 Mellanox network driver where the health monitoring timer continues executing after critical resources are freed during improper driver teardown, causing kernel crashes and memory corruption.

Is CVE-2024-40906 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2024-40906 is not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog and has no public exploit available. However, its high CVSS score (7.8) and potential for denial-of-service make it a priority for patching.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-40906?

Linux kernel versions 6.7 through 6.9.5 are vulnerable; the fix is included in kernel 6.9.6 and later versions.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-40906?

Run `uname -r` to check your kernel version; if it reports 6.7.x, 6.8.x, or 6.9.x (where x < 6), your system is vulnerable. Additionally, verify Mellanox hardware presence with `lspci | grep -i mellanox` — vulnerability only affects systems with mlx5 network adapters.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-40906?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed kernel and driver package versions against the NVD database. If a vulnerable kernel version is detected on a monitored server, CVE-2024-40906 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps and affected component details.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2024-42256CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix server re-repick on subrequest retry When a subrequest is marked for needing retry, netfs will call cifs_prepare_write() which will make cifs repick the server for the op before renegotiating credits; it then calls cifs_issue_write() which invokes smb2_async_writev() - which re-repicks the server. If a different server is then selected, this causes the increment of server->in_flight to happen against one record and the decrement to happen against another, leading to misaccounting. Fix this by just removing the repick code in smb2_async_writev(). As this is only called from netfslib-driven code, cifs_prepare_write() should always have been called first, and so server should never be NULL and the preparatory step is repeated in the event that we do a retry. The problem manifests as a warning looking something like: WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 72896 at fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c:97 smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... RIP: 0010:smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... smb2_writev_callback+0x334/0x560 [cifs] cifs_demultiplex_thread+0x77a/0x11b0 [cifs] kthread+0x187/0x1d0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Which may be triggered by a number of different xfstests running against an Azure server in multichannel mode. generic/249 seems the most repeatable, but generic/215, generic/249 and generic/308 may also show it.
CVE-2024-36031CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Fix overwrite of key expiration on instantiation The expiry time of a key is unconditionally overwritten during instantiation, defaulting to turn it permanent. This causes a problem for DNS resolution as the expiration set by user-space is overwritten to TIME64_MAX, disabling further DNS updates. Fix this by restoring the condition that key_set_expiry is only called when the pre-parser sets a specific expiry.
CVE-2024-38612CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: fix invalid unregister error path The error path of seg6_init() is wrong in case CONFIG_IPV6_SEG6_LWTUNNEL is not defined. In that case if seg6_hmac_init() fails, the genl_unregister_family() isn't called. This issue exist since commit 46738b1317e1 ("ipv6: sr: add option to control lwtunnel support"), and commit 5559cea2d5aa ("ipv6: sr: fix possible use-after-free and null-ptr-deref") replaced unregister_pernet_subsys() with genl_unregister_family() in this error path.
CVE-2024-38623CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Use variable length array instead of fixed size Should fix smatch warning: ntfs_set_label() error: __builtin_memcpy() 'uni->name' too small (20 vs 256)
CVE-2021-47548CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethernet: hisilicon: hns: hns_dsaf_misc: fix a possible array overflow in hns_dsaf_ge_srst_by_port() The if statement: if (port >= DSAF_GE_NUM) return; limits the value of port less than DSAF_GE_NUM (i.e., 8). However, if the value of port is 6 or 7, an array overflow could occur: port_rst_off = dsaf_dev->mac_cb[port]->port_rst_off; because the length of dsaf_dev->mac_cb is DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM (i.e., 6). To fix this possible array overflow, we first check port and if it is greater than or equal to DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM, the function returns.

References

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