CVE-2024-26988: init/main.c: Fix potential static_command_line memory overflow

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-05-01 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-787

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: init/main.c: Fix potential static_command_line memory overflow We allocate memory of size 'xlen + strlen(boot_command_line) + 1' for static_command_line, but the strings copied into static_command_line are extra_command_line and command_line, rather than extra_command_line and boot_command_line. When strlen(command_line) > strlen(boot_command_line), static_command_line will overflow. This patch just recovers strlen(command_line) which was miss-consolidated with strlen(boot_command_line) in the commit f5c7310ac73e ("init/main: add checks for the return value of memblock_alloc*()")

Affected products

Debian Linux: 10.0
Fedoraproject Fedora: 38, 39, 40
Linux kernel: from 5.1 before 5.10.216; from 5.11 before 5.15.157; from 5.16 before 6.1.88; from 6.2 before 6.6.29; from 6.7 before 6.8.8; 6.9-rc1, 6.9-rc2, 6.9-rc3, 6.9-rc4 — fixed in 5.10.216, 5.15.157, 6.1.88, 6.6.29, 6.8.8

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.216, 5.15.157, 6.1.88, 6.6.29. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2024-26988 or the next vulnerability affects your stack