CVE-2024-50169: vsock: Update rx_bytes on read_skb()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-11-07 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vsock: Update rx_bytes on read_skb() Make sure virtio_transport_inc_rx_pkt() and virtio_transport_dec_rx_pkt() calls are balanced (i.e. virtio_vsock_sock::rx_bytes doesn't lie) after vsock_transport::read_skb(). While here, also inform the peer that we've freed up space and it has more credit. Failing to update rx_bytes after packet is dequeued leads to a warning on SOCK_STREAM recv(): [ 233.396654] rx_queue is empty, but rx_bytes is non-zero [ 233.396702] WARNING: CPU: 11 PID: 40601 at net/vmw_vsock/virtio_transport_common.c:589

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.4 before 6.6.59; from 6.7 before 6.11.6; 6.12-rc1, 6.12-rc2, 6.12-rc3 — fixed in 6.11.6, 6.6.59

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.11.6, 6.6.59. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2024-50169 or the next vulnerability affects your stack