CVE-2024-38576: rcu: Fix buffer overflow in print_cpu_stall_info()

Severity: high (CVSS 7.0 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: 2024-06-19 · updated 2026-08-04
Weakness: CWE-120

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: Fix buffer overflow in print_cpu_stall_info() The rcuc-starvation output from print_cpu_stall_info() might overflow the buffer if there is a huge difference in jiffies difference. The situation might seem improbable, but computers sometimes get very confused about time, which can result in full-sized integers, and, in this case, buffer overflow. Also, the unsigned jiffies difference is printed using %ld, which is normally for signed integers. This is intentional for debugging purposes, but it is not obvious from the code. This commit therefore changes sprintf() to snprintf() and adds a clarifying comment about intention of %ld format. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.0 before 6.1.93; from 6.2 before 6.6.33; from 6.7 before 6.8.12; from 6.9 before 6.9.3 — fixed in 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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