Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2024-56617)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2024-56617). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.6.66, 6.12.5 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

cacheinfo: Allocate memory during CPU hotplug if not done from the primary CPU

Commit

5944ce092b97 ("arch_topology: Build cacheinfo from primary CPU")

adds functionality that architectures can use to optionally allocate and
build cacheinfo early during boot. Commit

6539cffa9495 ("cacheinfo: Add arch specific early level initializer")

lets secondary CPUs correct (and reallocate memory) cacheinfo data if
needed.

If the early build functionality is not used and cacheinfo does not need
correction, memory for cacheinfo is never allocated. x86 does not use
the early build functionality. Consequently, during the cacheinfo CPU
hotplug callback, last_level_cache_is_valid() attempts to dereference
a NULL pointer:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000100
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEPMT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 0 PID 19 Comm: cpuhp/0 Not tainted 6.4.0-rc2 #1
RIP: 0010: last_level_cache_is_valid+0x95/0xe0a

Allocate memory for cacheinfo during the cacheinfo CPU hotplug callback
if not done earlier.

Moreover, before determining the validity of the last-level cache info,
ensure that it has been allocated. Simply checking for non-zero
cache_leaves() is not sufficient, as some architectures (e.g., Intel
processors) have non-zero cache_leaves() before allocation.

Dereferencing NULL cacheinfo can oc…

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-2024-56617 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.6.66, 6.12.5 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2024-56617" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2024-56617 (Kernel)
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 6.6.66, 6.12.5 — 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 6.6.66, 6.12.5.

🛡️ 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 6.6.66, 6.12.5
```
ステージング環境で 6.6.66, 6.12.5 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":"6.4.0"},{"fixed":"6.6.66"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.7.0"},{"fixed":"6.12.5"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2024-56617 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.12.41-r0
Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56617 linux Fixed in: 6.12.5-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56617 linux-hwe-edge