CVE Catalog

CVE-2024-42282

MediumCVSS 5.5
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.19%

8th percentile - higher than 8% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, in the MediaTek network driver, a potential NULL pointer dereference in dummy net_device handling was fixed. The freeing of the dummy device was moved from mtk_free_dev() to mtk_remove(). Previously, if alloc_netdev_dummy() failed in mtk_probe(), dummy_dev was NULL, and the error path called free_netdev() on an unallocated pointer, potentially causing a NULL pointer dereference.

Risk Assessment

Potential system crashes or hangs due to NULL pointer dereference in the MediaTek network driver, leading to system instability.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing this fix to avoid potential crashes related to null pointers.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: mediatek: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference in dummy net_device handling Move the freeing of the dummy net_device from mtk_free_dev() to mtk_remove(). Previously, if alloc_netdev_dummy() failed in mtk_probe(), eth->dummy_dev would be NULL. The error path would then call mtk_free_dev(), which in turn called free_netdev() assuming dummy_dev was allocated (but it was not), potentially causing a NULL pointer dereference. By moving free_netdev() to mtk_remove(), we ensure it's only called when mtk_probe() has succeeded and dummy_dev is fully allocated. This addresses a potential NULL pointer dereference detected by Smatch[1].

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS