Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2024-53138

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: kTLS, Fix incorrect page refcounting The kTLS tx handling code is using a mix of get_page() and page_ref_inc() APIs to increment the page reference. But on the release path (mlx5e_ktls_tx_handle_resync_dump_comp()), only put_page() is used. This is an issue when using pages from large folios: the get_page() references are stored on the folio page while the page_ref_inc() references are stored directly in the given page. On release the folio page will be dereferenced too many times. This was found while doing kTLS testing with sendfile() + ZC when the served file was read from NFS on a kernel with NFS large folios support (commit 49b29a573da8 ("nfs: add support for large folios")).

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (43.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 44th percentile — 43.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2024-53138: held from 0.005 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 84d1bb2b139e0184b1754aa1b5776186b475fce8, 5.4, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.12

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-53138?
CVE-2024-53138 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2024-12-04.
How severe is CVE-2024-53138?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2024-53138 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.