CVE-2024-35934

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Shared Memory Communications (SMC) subsystem. An unprivileged local user can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by repeatedly creating network namespaces, triggering severe lock contention on core networking locks. This issue occurs because the SMC network initialization routine unnecessarily acquires the routing netlink (rtnl) lock even when no network devices are present, degrading system responsiveness and stalling network operations.

This vulnerability is rated as Low impact for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because exploitation requires local access to continuously generate network namespaces and only leads to performance degradation and lock contention without compromising system integrity or confidentiality. The flaw stems from suboptimal lock handling during namespace initialization within the Shared Memory Communications subsystem, which is not actively engaged on standard installations unless specialized hardware or protocols are configured. Consequently, the operational blast radius is limited to local resource exhaustion scenarios without inducing a complete kernel crash.

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.