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🛡️ CVE-2024-56702 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

bpf: Mark raw_tp arguments with PTR_MAYBE_NULL

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Mark raw_tp arguments with PTR_MAYBE_NULL

Arguments to a raw tracepoint are tagged as trusted, which carries the

semantics that the pointer will be non-NULL. However, in certain cases,

a raw tracepoint argument may end up being NULL. More context about this

issue is available in [0].

Thus, there is a discrepancy between the reality, that raw_tp arguments

can actually be NULL, and the verifier's knowledge, that they are never

NULL, causing explicit NULL checks to be deleted, and accesses to such

pointers potentially crashing the kernel.

To fix this, mark raw_tp arguments as PTR_MAYBE_NULL, and then special

case the dereference and pointer arithmetic to permit it, and allow

passing them into helpers/kfuncs; these exceptions are made for raw_tp

programs only. Ensure that we don't do this when ref_obj_id > 0, as in

that case this is an acquired object and doesn't need such adjustment.

The reason we do mask_raw_tp_trusted_reg logic is because other will

recheck in places whether the register is a trusted_reg, and then

consider our register as untrusted when detecting the presence of the

PTR_MAYBE_NULL flag.

To allow safe dereference, we enable PROBE_MEM marking when we see loads

into trusted pointers with PTR_MAYBE_NULL.

While trusted raw_tp arguments can also be passed into helpers or kfuncs

where such broken assumption may cause issues, a future patch set will

tackle their case separately, as PTR_TO_BTF_ID (without PTR_TRUSTED) can

already be passed into helpers and causes similar problems. Thus, they

are left alone for now.

It is possible that these checks also permit passing non-raw_tp args

that are trusted PTR_TO_BTF_ID with null marking. In such a case,

allowing dereference when pointer is NULL expands allowed behavior, so

won't regress existing programs, and the case of passing these into

helpers is the same as above and will be dealt with later.

Also update the failure case in tp_btf_nullable selftest to capture the

new behavior, as the verifier will no longer cause an error when

directly dereference a raw tracepoint argument marked as __nullable.

[0]: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/[email protected]

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2024-56702 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.12.0 up to 6.12.2)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.12 up to 6.12.2)

Timeline and source

Published on 28 December 2024 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2024-56702 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2024-12-28
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.12.0 6.12.2
linux-kernel 6.12 6.12.2

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