What is CVE-2024-40961?

CVE-2024-40961 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476). CVE-2024-40961 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-40961?

CVE-2024-40961 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-2024-40961?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2024-40961. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2024-40961 actively exploited?

CVE-2024-40961 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476.html

CVE-2024-40961

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: prevent possible NULL deref in fib6_nh_init() syzbot reminds us that in6_dev_get() can return NULL. fib6_nh_init() ip6_validate_gw( &idev ) ip6_route_check_nh( idev ) *idev = in6_dev_get(dev); // can be NULL Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000bc: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000005e0-0x00000000000005e7] CPU: 0 PID: 11237 Comm: syz-executor.3 Not tainted 6.10.0-rc2-syzkaller-00249-gbe27b8965297 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 06/07/2024 RIP: 0010:fib6_nh_init+0x640/0x2160 net/ipv6/route.c:3606 Code: 00 00 fc ff df 4c 8b 64 24 58 48 8b 44 24 28 4c 8b 74 24 30 48 89 c1 48 89 44 24 28 48 8d 98 e0 05 00 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 0f b6 04 38 84 c0 0f 85 b3 17 00 00 8b 1b 31 ff 89 de e8 b8 8b RSP: 0018:ffffc900032775a0 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 00000000000000bc RBX: 00000000000005e0 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000010 RSI: ffffc90003277a54 RDI: ffff88802b3a08d8 RBP: ffffc900032778b0 R08: 00000000000002fc R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 00000000000002fc R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88802b3a08b8 R13: 1ffff9200064eec8 R14: ffffc90003277a00 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 00007f940feb06c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 00000000245e8000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ip6_route_info_create+0x99e/0x12b0 net/ipv6/route.c:3809 ip6_route_add+0x28/0x160 net/ipv6/route.c:3853 ipv6_route_ioctl+0x588/0x870 net/ipv6/route.c:4483 inet6_ioctl+0x21a/0x280 net/ipv6/af_inet6.c:579 sock_do_ioctl+0x158/0x460 net/socket.c:1222 sock_ioctl+0x629/0x8e0 net/socket.c:1341 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f940f07cea9

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2024-07-12

Last modified 2026-05-12

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Awaiting data

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-476

CVE-2024-40961 is a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability

What is NULL Pointer Dereference?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. Learn more on MITRE CWE

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2024-40961 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Debian Security
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00001.html
Cert-Portal
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
Cert-Portal
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-355557.html
Cert-Portal
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-613116.html
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2eab4543a2204092c3a7af81d7d6c506e59a03a6
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3200ffeec4d59aad5bc9ca75d2c1fae47c0aeade
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4cdfe813015d5a24586bd0a84fa0fa6eb0a1f668
Patch

7 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2024-40961

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2024-07-12

Modified 2026-05-12

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-40961?

CVE-2024-40961 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476) . CVE-2024-40961 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-40961?

CVE-2024-40961 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-2024-40961?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2024-40961. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2024-40961 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2024-40961 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. View CWE-476 on MITRE CWE →