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Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2024-56644MEDIUM
Linux Linux — net/ipv6: release expired exception dst cached in socket
  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   L   L   L   N  U  N  N  H    5.5   .0069   50.1     —
AFFECTED
  Product  Versions                                    Fixed
  Linux    54c1a859efd9fd6cda05bc700315ba2519c14eba –  —
  Linux    2.6.34 –                                    5.4.287
TIMELINE
  Dec 27  Reserved by Linux
  Dec 27  Published (CNA: Linux)
  Aug 4   RESCORED — CVE-2024-56644 (Linux). CVSS 7.5 → 5.5 (NVD).
CNA: Linux · CVSS v3.1 · 9 references · NVD status: Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/ipv6: release expired exception dst cached in socket Dst objects get leaked in ip6_negative_advice() when this function is executed for an expired IPv6 route located in the exception table. There are several conditions that must be fulfilled for the leak to occur: * an ICMPv6 packet indicating a change of the MTU for the path is received, resulting in an exception dst being created * a TCP connection that uses the exception dst for routing packets must start timing out so that TCP begins retransmissions * after the exception dst expires, the FIB6 garbage collector must not run before TCP executes ip6_negative_advice() for the expired exception dst When TCP executes ip6_negative_advice() for an exception dst that has expired and if no other socket holds a reference to the exception dst, the refcount of the exception dst is 2, which corresponds to the increment made by dst_init() and the increment made by the TCP socket for which the connection is timing out. The refcount made by the socket is never released. The refcount of the dst is decremented in sk_dst_reset() but that decrement is counteracted by a dst_hold() intentionally placed just before the sk_dst_reset() in ip6_negative_advice(). After ip6_negative_advice() has finished, there is no other object tied to the dst. The socket lost its reference stored in sk_dst_cache and the dst is no longer in the exception table. The exception dst becomes a leaked object. As a result of this dst leak, an unbalanced refcount is reported for the loopback device of a net namespace being destroyed under kernels that do not contain e5f80fcf869a ("ipv6: give an IPv6 dev to blackhole_netdev"): unregister_netdevice: waiting for lo to become free. Usage count = 2 Fix the dst leak by removing the dst_hold() in ip6_negative_advice(). The patch that introduced the dst_hold() in ip6_negative_advice() was 92f1655aa2b22 ("net: fix __dst_negative_advice() race"). But 92f1655aa2b22 merely refactored the code with regards to the dst refcount so the issue was present even before 92f1655aa2b22. The bug was introduced in 54c1a859efd9f ("ipv6: Don't drop cache route entry unless timer actually expired.") where the expired cached route is deleted and the sk_dst_cache member of the socket is set to NULL by calling dst_negative_advice() but the refcount belonging to the socket is left unbalanced. The IPv4 version - ipv4_negative_advice() - is not affected by this bug. When the TCP connection times out ipv4_negative_advice() merely resets the sk_dst_cache of the socket while decrementing the refcount of the exception dst.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
DateEventDetail
December 27, 2024ReservedReserved by Linux
December 27, 2024PublishedPublished (CNA: Linux)
August 4, 2026RESCOREDRESCORED — CVE-2024-56644 (Linux). CVSS 7.5 → 5.5 (NVD).

Affected

Affected products and packages — 2 rows
VendorProduct / PackageEcosystemVersion introducedFixed
LinuxLinux54c1a859efd9fd6cda05bc700315ba2519c14eba
LinuxLinux2.6.345.4.287

References (9)

Related

Authoritative record: CVE-2024-56644 at cve.org

Vendors: linux

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2024-56644 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.