CVE-2024-57996 | net_sched: sch_sfq: don't allow 1 packet limit

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net_sched: sch_sfq: don't allow 1 packet limit The current implementation does not work correctly with a limit of 1. iproute2 actually checks for this and this patch adds the check in kernel as well. This fixes the following syzkaller reported crash: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in net/sched/sch_sfq.c:210:6 index 65535 is out of range for type 'struct sfq_head[128]' CPU: 0 PID: 2569 Comm: syz-executor101 Not tainted 5.10.0-smp-DEV #1 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024 Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:79 [inline] dump_stack+0x125/0x19f lib/dump_stack.c:120 ubsan_epilogue lib/ubsan.c:148 [inline] __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds+0xed/0x120 lib/ubsan.c:347 sfq_link net/sched/sch_sfq.c:210 [inline] sfq_dec+0x528/0x600 net/sched/sch_sfq.c:238 sfq_dequeue+0x39b/0x9d0 net/sched/sch_sfq.c:500 sfq_reset+0x13/0x50 net/sched/sch_sfq.c:525 qdisc_reset+0xfe/0x510 net/sched/sch_generic.c:1026 tbf_reset+0x3d/0x100 net/sched/sch_tbf.c:319 qdisc_reset+0xfe/0x510 net/sched/sch_generic.c:1026 dev_reset_queue+0x8c/0x140 net/sched/sch_generic.c:1296 netdev_for_each_tx_queue include/linux/netdevice.h:2350 [inline] dev_deactivate_many+0x6dc/0xc20 net/sched/sch_generic.c:1362 __dev_close_many+0x214/0x350 net/core/dev.c:1468 dev_close_many+0x207/0x510 net/core/dev.c:1506 unregister_netdevice_many+0x40f/0x16b0 net/core/dev.c:10738 unregister_netdevice_queue+0x2be/0x310 net/core/dev.c:10695 unregister_netdevice include/linux/netdevice.h:2893 [inline] __tun_detach+0x6b6/0x1600 drivers/net/tun.c:689 tun_detach drivers/net/tun.c:705 [inline] tun_chr_close+0x104/0x1b0 drivers/net/tun.c:3640 __fput+0x203/0x840 fs/file_table.c:280 task_work_run+0x129/0x1b0 kernel/task_work.c:185 exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:33 [inline] do_exit+0x5ce/0x2200 kernel/exit.c:931 do_group_exit+0x144/0x310 kernel/exit.c:1046 __do_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1057 [inline] __se_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1055 [inline] __x64_sys_exit_group+0x3b/0x40 kernel/exit.c:1055 do_syscall_64+0x6c/0xd0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x61/0xcb RIP: 0033:0x7fe5e7b52479 Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at RIP 0x7fe5e7b5244f. RSP: 002b:00007ffd3c800398 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000e7 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007fe5e7b52479 RDX: 000000000000003c RSI: 00000000000000e7 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: 00007fe5e7bcd2d0 R08: ffffffffffffffb8 R09: 0000000000000014 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fe5e7bcd2d0 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 00007fe5e7bcdd20 R15: 00007fe5e7b24270 The crash can be also be reproduced with the following (with a tc recompiled to allow for sfq limits of 1): tc qdisc add dev dummy0 handle 1: root tbf rate 1Kbit burst 100b lat 1s ../iproute2-6.9.0/tc/tc qdisc add dev dummy0 handle 2: parent 1:10 sfq limit 1 ifconfig dummy0 up ping -I dummy0 -f -c2 -W0.1 8.8.8.8 sleep 1 Scenario that triggers the crash: * the first packet is sent and queued in TBF and SFQ; qdisc qlen is 1 * TBF dequeues: it peeks from SFQ which moves the packet to the gso_skb list and keeps qdisc qlen set to 1. TBF is out of tokens so it schedules itself for later. * the second packet is sent and TBF tries to queues it to SFQ. qdisc qlen is now 2 and because the SFQ limit is 1 the packet is dropped by SFQ. At this point qlen is 1, and all of the SFQ slots are empty, however q->tail is not NULL. At this point, assuming no more packets are queued, when sch_dequeue runs again it will decrement the qlen for the current empty slot causing an underflow and the subsequent out of bounds access.

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

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2024-57996 is rated Low Risk (22.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). 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-2024-57996

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 0.06% 0.01% -0.04%
2 2026-04-07 0.05% 0.06% +0.01%
3 2026-02-08 0.05%

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-57996

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-2024-57996

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-57996

GHSA-25pp-pjqx-3f66 · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net_sched: sch_sfq: don't...

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-57996

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-57996 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-2024-57996
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-57996
suse high https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-57996/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-57996 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 220, ignored 152, not-affected 31, needs-triage 2, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-57996

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-57996

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.12, < 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-2024-57996

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/10685681bafce6febb39770f3387621bf5d67d0b Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b562b7f9231432da40d12e19786c1bd7df653a7
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e6d9d87626cf89eeffb4d943db12cb5b10bf961
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/35d0137305ae2f97260a9047f445bd4434bd6cc7 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d8947f2153ee9c5ab4cb17861a11cc45f30e8c4 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7fefc294204f10a3405f175f4ac2be16d63f135e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/833e9a1c27b82024db7ff5038a51651f48f05e5e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e12f6013d0a69660e8b99bfe381b9546ae667328
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html
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