Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2024-38540)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2024-38540). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.15.181, 6.1.117, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

bnxt_re: avoid shift undefined behavior in bnxt_qplib_alloc_init_hwq

Undefined behavior is triggered when bnxt_qplib_alloc_init_hwq is called
with hwq_attr->aux_depth != 0 and hwq_attr->aux_stride == 0.
In that case, "roundup_pow_of_two(hwq_attr->aux_stride)" gets called.
roundup_pow_of_two is documented as undefined for 0.

Fix it in the one caller that had this combination.

The undefined behavior was detected by UBSAN:
UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in ./include/linux/log2.h:57:13
shift exponent 64 is too large for 64-bit type 'long unsigned int'
CPU: 24 PID: 1075 Comm: (udev-worker) Not tainted 6.9.0-rc6+ #4
Hardware name: Abacus electric, s.r.o. - servis@abacus.cz Super Server/H12SSW-iN, BIOS 2.7 10/25/2023
Call Trace:

dump_stack_lvl+0x5d/0x80
ubsan_epilogue+0x5/0x30
__ubsan_handle_shift_out_of_bounds.cold+0x61/0xec
__roundup_pow_of_two+0x25/0x35 [bnxt_re]
bnxt_qplib_alloc_init_hwq+0xa1/0x470 [bnxt_re]
bnxt_qplib_create_qp+0x19e/0x840 [bnxt_re]
bnxt_re_create_qp+0x9b1/0xcd0 [bnxt_re]
? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5
? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5
? __kmalloc+0x1b6/0x4f0
? create_qp.part.0+0x128/0x1c0 [ib_core]
? __pfx_bnxt_re_create_qp+0x10/0x10 [bnxt_re]
create_qp.part.0+0x128/0x1c0 [ib_core]
ib_create_qp_kernel+0x50/0xd0 [ib_core]
create_mad_qp+0x8e/0xe0 [ib_core]
? __pfx_qp_event_handler+0x10/0x10 [ib_core]
ib_mad_init_device+0…

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-2024-38540 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 5.15.181, 6.1.117, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2024-38540" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2024-38540 (Kernel)
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 5.15.181, 6.1.117, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3 — 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 5.15.181, 6.1.117, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3.

🛡️ 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 5.15.181, 6.1.117, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3
```
ステージング環境で 5.15.181, 6.1.117, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3 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":"5.7.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.181"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.117"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.6.33"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.7.0"},{"fixed":"6.8.12"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.9.0"},{"fixed":"6.9.3"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2024-38540 linux
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2024-38540 linux-hwe-edge