CVE-2024-26961

A flaw was found in the Linux Kernel where resources are improperly managed in IEEE 802.15.4 networking, leading to a potential use-after-free issue, resulting in a denial of service.

A use-after-free flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IEEE 802.15.4 link-layer security (mac802154) implementation. When mac802154_llsec_key_del() releases the resources of a link-layer security key, it frees them directly instead of waiting for the RCU grace period to elapse. On a system using 802.15.4 low-rate wireless networking with link-layer security, a local user with sufficient privileges who triggers deletion of an llsec key while llsec_lookup_key() traverses the key list in parallel can cause a use-after-free, resulting in a denial of service; the flaw also leaks ieee802154_llsec_key_entry structures. Red Hat rated this flaw Moderate because it requires local privileged access, is limited to configurations using 802.15.4 link-layer security, and impacts availability only (CVSS 5.5, AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H). This is lower than the NIST score of 7.8, which additionally assumes confidentiality and integrity impacts that the technical evidence for this flaw does not support. The kernel and kernel-rt components in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9 are affected, and fixes are being pursued through the respective update streams; the Fedora community kernel is also affected. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is not affected because the vulnerable code was introduced in upstream Linux kernel 3.16 and its kernel does not contain it, and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support streams are out of support scope.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.