CVE-2024-57979 | pps: Fix a use-after-free

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pps: Fix a use-after-free On a board running ntpd and gpsd, I'm seeing a consistent use-after-free in sys_exit() from gpsd when rebooting: pps pps1: removed ------------[ cut here ]------------ kobject: '(null)' (00000000db4bec24): is not initialized, yet kobject_put() is being called. WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 440 at lib/kobject.c:734 kobject_put+0x120/0x150 CPU: 2 UID: 299 PID: 440 Comm: gpsd Not tainted 6.11.0-rc6-00308-gb31c44928842 #1 Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 (DT) pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : kobject_put+0x120/0x150 lr : kobject_put+0x120/0x150 sp : ffffffc0803d3ae0 x29: ffffffc0803d3ae0 x28: ffffff8042dc9738 x27: 0000000000000001 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffffff8042dc9040 x24: ffffff8042dc9440 x23: ffffff80402a4620 x22: ffffff8042ef4bd0 x21: ffffff80405cb600 x20: 000000000008001b x19: ffffff8040b3b6e0 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 696e6920746f6e20 x14: 7369203a29343263 x13: 205d303434542020 x12: 0000000000000000 x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000 x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: kobject_put+0x120/0x150 cdev_put+0x20/0x3c __fput+0x2c4/0x2d8 ____fput+0x1c/0x38 task_work_run+0x70/0xfc do_exit+0x2a0/0x924 do_group_exit+0x34/0x90 get_signal+0x7fc/0x8c0 do_signal+0x128/0x13b4 do_notify_resume+0xdc/0x160 el0_svc+0xd4/0xf8 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x140/0x14c el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- ...followed by more symptoms of corruption, with similar stacks: refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:62! Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops - BUG: Fatal exception This happens because pps_device_destruct() frees the pps_device with the embedded cdev immediately after calling cdev_del(), but, as the comment above cdev_del() notes, fops for previously opened cdevs are still callable even after cdev_del() returns. I think this bug has always been there: I can't explain why it suddenly started happening every time I reboot this particular board. In commit d953e0e837e6 ("pps: Fix a use-after free bug when unregistering a source."), George Spelvin suggested removing the embedded cdev. That seems like the simplest way to fix this, so I've implemented his suggestion, using __register_chrdev() with pps_idr becoming the source of truth for which minor corresponds to which device. But now that pps_idr defines userspace visibility instead of cdev_add(), we need to be sure the pps->dev refcount can't reach zero while userspace can still find it again. So, the idr_remove() call moves to pps_unregister_cdev(), and pps_idr now holds a reference to pps->dev. pps_core: source serial1 got cdev (251:1) <...> pps pps1: removed pps_core: unregistering pps1 pps_core: deallocating pps1

Published: 2025-02-27 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-57979 is rated Low Risk (32.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-57979

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-07 0.05% 0.02% -0.03%
2 2025-11-23 0.05% 0.05% +0.00%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-57979

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-57979

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-57979

GHSA-579q-3q2m-34fw · Severity: high — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pps: Fix a use-after-free ...

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-57979

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-57979 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-57979
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-57979
suse medium CVE-2024-57979 severity moderate: SUSE including 456 source package names (2.1.3-6.11:kernel-default-6.4.0-28.1, 2.1.3-6.12:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-28.1.21.6, …), 767 product×package rows across 135 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (135 product lines)): Fixed 461, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 75. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-57979/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-57979 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, released 190, ignored 152, not-affected 44, needed 20. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-57979

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-57979

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.2.40, < 3.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.4.87, < 3.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.8.1, < 5.4.291 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.235 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.179 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.129 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.76 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-57979

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1a7735ab2cb9747518a7416fb5929e85442dec62 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/785c78ed0d39d1717cca3ef931d3e51337b5e90e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e5ee3281dc09014367f5112b6d566ba36ea2d49 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85241f7de216f8298f6e48540ea13d7dcd100870 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/91932db1d96b2952299ce30c1c693d834d10ace6 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c4041b6b0a7a3def8cf3f3d6120ff337bc4c40f7 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c79a39dc8d060b9e64e8b0fa9d245d44befeefbe Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd3bbcb6b3a7caa5ce67de76723b6d8531fb7f64 Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
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