What is CVE-2024-40942?

CVE-2024-40942 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401), affecting Linux kernel versions from 2.6.26 onward and patched in 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221 and others. CVE-2024-40942 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-40942?

CVE-2024-40942 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2024-40942?

Yes, CVE-2024-40942 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.26 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2024-40942 actively exploited?

CVE-2024-40942 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Memory Leak (CWE-401)?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/401.html

CVE-2024-40942

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: mac80211: mesh: Fix leak of mesh_preq_queue objects The hwmp code use objects of type mesh_preq_queue, added to a list in ieee80211_if_mesh, to keep track of mpath we need to resolve. If the mpath gets deleted, ex mesh interface is removed, the entries in that list will never get cleaned. Fix this by flushing all corresponding items of the preq_queue in mesh_path_flush_pending(). This should take care of KASAN reports like this: unreferenced object 0xffff00000668d800 (size 128): comm "kworker/u8:4", pid 67, jiffies 4295419552 (age 1836.444s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 1f 05 09 00 00 ff ff 00 d5 68 06 00 00 ff ff ..........h..... 8e 97 ea eb 3e b8 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....>........... backtrace: [<000000007302a0b6>] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x1e0/0x35c [<00000000049bd418>] kmalloc_trace+0x34/0x80 [<0000000000d792bb>] mesh_queue_preq+0x44/0x2a8 [<00000000c99c3696>] mesh_nexthop_resolve+0x198/0x19c [<00000000926bf598>] ieee80211_xmit+0x1d0/0x1f4 [<00000000fc8c2284>] __ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x30c/0x764 [<000000005926ee38>] ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x9c/0x7a4 [<000000004c86e916>] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x174/0x440 [<0000000023495647>] __dev_queue_xmit+0xe24/0x111c [<00000000cfe9ca78>] batadv_send_skb_packet+0x180/0x1e4 [<000000007bacc5d5>] batadv_v_elp_periodic_work+0x2f4/0x508 [<00000000adc3cd94>] process_one_work+0x4b8/0xa1c [<00000000b36425d1>] worker_thread+0x9c/0x634 [<0000000005852dd5>] kthread+0x1bc/0x1c4 [<000000005fccd770>] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 unreferenced object 0xffff000009051f00 (size 128): comm "kworker/u8:4", pid 67, jiffies 4295419553 (age 1836.440s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 90 d6 92 0d 00 00 ff ff 00 d8 68 06 00 00 ff ff ..........h..... 36 27 92 e4 02 e0 01 00 00 58 79 06 00 00 ff ff 6'.......Xy..... backtrace: [<000000007302a0b6>] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x1e0/0x35c [<00000000049bd418>] kmalloc_trace+0x34/0x80 [<0000000000d792bb>] mesh_queue_preq+0x44/0x2a8 [<00000000c99c3696>] mesh_nexthop_resolve+0x198/0x19c [<00000000926bf598>] ieee80211_xmit+0x1d0/0x1f4 [<00000000fc8c2284>] __ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x30c/0x764 [<000000005926ee38>] ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x9c/0x7a4 [<000000004c86e916>] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x174/0x440 [<0000000023495647>] __dev_queue_xmit+0xe24/0x111c [<00000000cfe9ca78>] batadv_send_skb_packet+0x180/0x1e4 [<000000007bacc5d5>] batadv_v_elp_periodic_work+0x2f4/0x508 [<00000000adc3cd94>] process_one_work+0x4b8/0xa1c [<00000000b36425d1>] worker_thread+0x9c/0x634 [<0000000005852dd5>] kthread+0x1bc/0x1c4 [<000000005fccd770>] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2024-07-12

Last modified 2026-05-12

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-401

CVE-2024-40942 is a Memory Leak vulnerability

What is Memory Leak?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 2.6.26 and later are affected. Fixed in 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221, 5.15.162, 6.1.95, 6.6.35, 6.9.6, 6.10 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 2.6.26

Fixed in

✓ 4.19.317 4.19.x ✓ 5.4.279 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.221 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.162 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.95 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.35 6.6.x ✓ 6.9.6 6.9.x ✓ 6.10

References

11 total

Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/377dbb220edc8421b7960691876c5b3bef62f89b

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/617dadbfb2d3e152c5753e28356d189c9d6f33c0

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63d5f89bb5664d60edbf8cf0df911aaae8ed96a4

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7518e20a189f8659b8b83969db4d33a4068fcfc3

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7d7f11a291830fdf69d3301075dd0fb347ced84

Patch

Showing 5 of 11 references View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2024-40942

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2024-07-12

Modified 2026-05-12

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-40942?

CVE-2024-40942 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 2.6.26 onward and has been patched in 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221 and others. CVE-2024-40942 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-40942?

CVE-2024-40942 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2024-40942?

Yes. CVE-2024-40942 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.26 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2024-40942 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2024-40942 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.