Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2024-36478)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2024-36478). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.1.119, 6.6.55, 6.9.4 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

null_blk: fix null-ptr-dereference while configuring 'power' and 'submit_queues'

Writing 'power' and 'submit_queues' concurrently will trigger kernel
panic:

Test script:

modprobe null_blk nr_devices=0
mkdir -p /sys/kernel/config/nullb/nullb0
while true; do echo 1 > submit_queues; echo 4 > submit_queues; done &
while true; do echo 1 > power; echo 0 > power; done

Test result:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000148
Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire+0x41d/0x28f0
Call Trace:

lock_acquire+0x121/0x450
down_write+0x5f/0x1d0
simple_recursive_removal+0x12f/0x5c0
blk_mq_debugfs_unregister_hctxs+0x7c/0x100
blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues+0x4a3/0x720
nullb_update_nr_hw_queues+0x71/0xf0 [null_blk]
nullb_device_submit_queues_store+0x79/0xf0 [null_blk]
configfs_write_iter+0x119/0x1e0
vfs_write+0x326/0x730
ksys_write+0x74/0x150

This is because del_gendisk() can concurrent with
blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues():

nullb_device_power_store nullb_apply_submit_queues
null_del_dev
del_gendisk
nullb_update_nr_hw_queues
if (!dev->nullb)
// still set while gendisk is deleted
return 0
blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues
dev->nullb = NULL

Fix this problem by resuing the global mutex to protect
nullb_device_power_store() and nullb_update_nr_hw_queues() from configfs.

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2024-36478 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.1.119, 6.6.55, 6.9.4 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2024-36478" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2024-36478 (Kernel)
Patched: 6.1.119, 6.6.55, 6.9.4 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 6.1.119, 6.6.55, 6.9.4.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 6.1.119, 6.6.55, 6.9.4
```
ステージング環境で 6.1.119, 6.6.55, 6.9.4 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.5.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.119"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.6.55"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.7.0"},{"fixed":"6.9.4"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2024-36478 linux
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2024-36478 linux-hwe-edge