What is CVE-2024-42161?

CVE-2024-42161 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 6.3 out of 10. CVE-2024-42161 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-42161?

CVE-2024-42161 has a CVSS score of 6.3 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2024-42161?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2024-42161. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2024-42161 actively exploited?

CVE-2024-42161 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2024-42161

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Avoid uninitialized value in BPF_CORE_READ_BITFIELD [Changes from V1: - Use a default branch in the switch statement to initialize `val'.] GCC warns that `val' may be used uninitialized in the BPF_CRE_READ_BITFIELD macro, defined in bpf_core_read.h as: [...] unsigned long long val; \ [...] \ switch (__CORE_RELO(s, field, BYTE_SIZE)) { \ case 1: val = *(const unsigned char *)p; break; \ case 2: val = *(const unsigned short *)p; break; \ case 4: val = *(const unsigned int *)p; break; \ case 8: val = *(const unsigned long long *)p; break; \ } \ [...] val; \ } \ This patch adds a default entry in the switch statement that sets `val' to zero in order to avoid the warning, and random values to be used in case __builtin_preserve_field_info returns unexpected values for BPF_FIELD_BYTE_SIZE. Tested in bpf-next master. No regressions.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2024-07-30

Last modified 2025-11-03

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Awaiting data

CVSS 3.1 score

6.3

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

High

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

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

Weakness type

CWE-908

CVE-2024-42161 is classified as CWE-908

See CWE-908 on MITRE CWE for full details on this weakness type.

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2024-42161 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
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/009367099eb61a4fc2af44d4eb06b6b4de7de6db
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3364c2ed1c241989847f19cf83e3db903ce689e3
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e5471b5efebc30dd0bc035cda86693a5c73d45f
Patch

6 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2024-42161

Severity Medium

CVSS score 6.3 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2024-07-30

Modified 2025-11-03

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-42161?

CVE-2024-42161 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 6.3 out of 10 . CVE-2024-42161 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-42161?

CVE-2024-42161 has a CVSS score of 6.3 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2024-42161?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2024-42161. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2024-42161 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2024-42161 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.