Vulnerability · Published May 20, 2024 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2024-35981virtio_net: Do not send RSS key if it is not supported

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 13% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 86.5% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_net: Do not send RSS key if it is not supported There is a bug when setting the RSS options in virtio_net that can break the whole machine, getting the kernel into an infinite loop. Running the following command in any QEMU virtual machine with virtionet will reproduce this problem: # ethtool -X eth0 hfunc toeplitz This is how the problem happens: 1) ethtool_set_rxfh() calls virtnet_set_rxfh() 2) virtnet_set_rxfh() calls virtnet_commit_rss_command() 3) virtnet_commit_rss_command() populates 4 entries for the rss scatter-gather 4) Since the command above does not have a key, then the last scatter-gatter entry will be zeroed, since rss_key_size == 0. sg_buf_size = vi->rss_key_size; 5) This buffer is passed to qemu, but qemu is not happy with a buffer with zero length, and do the following in virtqueue_map_desc() (QEMU function): if (!sz) { virtio_error(vdev, "virtio: zero sized buffers are not allowed"); 6) virtio_error() (also QEMU function) set the device as broken vdev->broken = true; 7) Qemu bails out, and do not repond this crazy kernel. 8) The kernel is waiting for the response to come back (function virtnet_send_command()) 9) The kernel is waiting doing the following : while (!virtqueue_get_buf(vi->cvq, &tmp) && !virtqueue_is_broken(vi->cvq)) cpu_relax(); 10) None of the following functions above is true, thus, the kernel loops here forever. Keeping in mind that virtqueue_is_broken() does not look at the qemu `vdev->broken`, so, it never realizes that the vitio is broken at QEMU side. Fix it by not sending RSS commands if the feature is not available in the device.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.90-1DEBIAN-CVE-2024-35981
Debian:13linux6.8.9-1DEBIAN-CVE-2024-35981
Debian:14linux6.8.9-1DEBIAN-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux6.8.0-38.38UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws6.8.0-1011.12UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.86.8.0-1011.12~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure6.8.0-1010.10UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.86.8.0-1010.10~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp6.8.0-1010.11UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gke6.8.0-1006.9UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-ibm6.8.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intel6.8.0-1007.14UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency6.8.0-38.38.1UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia6.8.0-1009.9UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.86.8.0-1009.9~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.86.8.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle6.8.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.86.8.0-1008.8~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi6.8.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv6.8.0-38.38.1UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 – before 539a2b995a4ed93125cb0efae0f793b00ab2158bc7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 – before 43a71c1b4b3a6d4db857b1435d271540279fc7dec7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 – before 28e9a64638cd16bc1ecac9ff74ffeacb9fb652dec7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 – before 059a49aa2e25c58f90b50151f109dd3c4cdb3a47
Linux Linux 5.18

References