CVE-2024-57981 | usb: xhci: Fix NULL pointer dereference on certain command aborts

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: xhci: Fix NULL pointer dereference on certain command aborts If a command is queued to the final usable TRB of a ring segment, the enqueue pointer is advanced to the subsequent link TRB and no further. If the command is later aborted, when the abort completion is handled the dequeue pointer is advanced to the first TRB of the next segment. If no further commands are queued, xhci_handle_stopped_cmd_ring() sees the ring pointers unequal and assumes that there is a pending command, so it calls xhci_mod_cmd_timer() which crashes if cur_cmd was NULL. Don't attempt timer setup if cur_cmd is NULL. The subsequent doorbell ring likely is unnecessary too, but it's harmless. Leave it alone. This is probably Bug 219532, but no confirmation has been received. The issue has been independently reproduced and confirmed fixed using a USB MCU programmed to NAK the Status stage of SET_ADDRESS forever. Everything continued working normally after several prevented crashes.

Published: 2025-02-27 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2024-57981 is rated Low Risk (23.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: 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-2024-57981

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 2026-04-17 0.05% 0.02% -0.03%
2 2025-11-12 0.05% 0.05% +0.00%
3 2025-11-04 0.05%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-57981

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-57981

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-57981

GHSA-mq27-r9q4-8847 · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: xhci: Fix NULL pointer...

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-57981

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-57981 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-2024-57981
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-57981
suse medium CVE-2024-57981 severity moderate: SUSE including 436 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, …), 754 product×package rows across 134 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (134 product lines)): Fixed 441, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 82. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-57981/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-57981 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 151, not-affected 45, needed 20. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-57981

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-57981

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.16, < 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-2024-57981

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ce5c0dac768be14afe2426101b568a0f66bfc4d Mailing List Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e0a19912adb68a4b2b74fd77001c96cd83eb073 Mailing List Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4ff18870af793ce2034a6ad746e91d0a3d985b88 Mailing List Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae069cd2ba09a2bd6a87a68c59ef0b7ea39cd641 Mailing List Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b44253956407046e5907d4d72c8fa5b93ae94485
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b649f0d5bc256f691c7d234c3986685d54053de1 Mailing List Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf30300a216a4f8dce94e11781a866a09d4b50d4
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd8bfaeba4a85b14427899adec0efb3954300653
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
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-503939.html
cvelogic Threat Intelligence