CVE-2024-36286: netfilter: nfnetlink_queue: acquire rcu_read_lock() in instance_destroy_rcu()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 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: 2024-06-21 · updated 2026-10-15

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nfnetlink_queue: acquire rcu_read_lock() in instance_destroy_rcu() syzbot reported that nf_reinject() could be called without rcu_read_lock() : WARNING: suspicious RCU usage 6.9.0-rc7-syzkaller-02060-g5c1672705a1a #0 Not tainted net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:263 suspicious rcu_dereference_check() usage! other info that might help us debug this: rcu_scheduler_active = 2, debug_locks = 1 2 locks held by syz-executor.4/13427: #0: ffffffff8e334f60 (rcu_callback){....}-{0:0}, at: rcu_lock_acquire include/linux/rcupdate.h:329 [inline] #0: ffffffff8e334f60 (rcu_callback){....}-{0:0}, at: rcu_do_batch kernel/rcu/tree.c:2190 [inline] #0: ffffffff8e334f60 (rcu_callback){....}-{0:0}, at: rcu_core+0xa86/0x1830 kernel/rcu/tree.c:2471 #1: ffff88801ca92958 (&inst->lock){+.-.}-{2:2}, at: spin_lock_bh include/linux/spinlock.h:356 [inline] #1: ffff88801ca92958 (&inst->lock){+.-.}-{2:2}, at: nfqnl_flush net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:405 [inline] #1: ffff88801ca92958 (&inst->lock){+.-.}-{2:2}, at: instance_destroy_rcu+0x30/0x220 net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:172 stack backtrace: CPU: 0 PID: 13427 Comm: syz-executor.4 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc7-syzkaller-02060-g5c1672705a1a #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 04/02/2024 Call Trace: <IRQ> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:114 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x221/0x340 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:6712 nf_reinject net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:323 [inline] nfqnl_reinject+0x6ec/0x1120 net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:397 nfqnl_flush net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:410 [inline] instance_destroy_rcu+0x1ae/0x220 net/netfilter/nfnetlink_queue.c:172 rcu_do_batch kernel/rcu/tree.c:2196 [inline] rcu_core+0xafd/0x1830 kernel/rcu/tree.c:2471 handle_softirqs+0x2d6/0x990 kernel/softirq.c:554 __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:588 [inline] invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:428 [inline] __irq_exit_rcu+0xf4/0x1c0 kernel/softirq.c:637 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:649 instr_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1043 [inline] sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xa6/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1043 </IRQ> <TASK>

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 2.6.25 before 4.19.316; from 4.20 before 5.4.278; from 5.5 before 5.10.219; from 5.11 before 5.15.161; from 5.16 before 6.1.93; from 6.2 before 6.6.33 — fixed in 4.19.316, 5.10.219, 5.15.161, 5.4.278, 6.1.93, 6.6.33

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.19.316, 5.10.219, 5.15.161, 5.4.278. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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