CVE-2024-36961

MEDIUM
Published Jun 3, 2024 Modified Sep 17, 2025 CWE-667

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal/debugfs: Fix two locking issues with thermal zone debug With the current thermal zone locking arrangement in the debugfs code, user space can open the "mitigations" file for a thermal zone before the zone's debugfs pointer is set which will result in a NULL pointer dereference in tze_seq_start(). Moreover, thermal_debug_tz_remove() is not called under the thermal zone lock, so it can run in parallel with the other functions accessing the thermal zone's struct thermal_debugfs object. Then, it may clear tz->debugfs after one of those functions has checked it and the struct thermal_debugfs object may be freed prematurely. To address the first problem, pass a pointer to the thermal zone's struct thermal_debugfs object to debugfs_create_file() in thermal_debug_tz_add() and make tze_seq_start(), tze_seq_next(), tze_seq_stop(), and tze_seq_show() retrieve it from s->private instead of a pointer to the thermal zone object. This will ensure that tz_debugfs will be valid across the "mitigations" file accesses until thermal_debugfs_remove_id() called by thermal_debug_tz_remove() removes that file. To address the second problem, use tz->lock in thermal_debug_tz_remove() around the tz->debugfs value check (in case the same thermal zone is removed at the same time in two different threads) and its reset to NULL. Cc :6.8+ <[email protected]> # 6.8+

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5
MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-667 CWE-667

Affected Products

Vendor Product
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-36961? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal/debugfs: Fix two locking issues with thermal zone debug With the current thermal zone locking arrangement in the debugfs code, user space can open the "mitigations" file for a thermal zone before the zone's debugfs pointer is set which will result in a NULL pointer dereference in tze_seq_start(). Moreover, thermal_debug_tz_remove() is not called under the thermal zone lock, so it can run in parallel with the other functions accessing the thermal zone's struct thermal_debugfs object. Then, it may clear tz->debugfs after one of those functions has checked it and the struct thermal_debugfs object may be freed prematurely. To address the first problem, pass a pointer to the thermal zone's struct thermal_debugfs object to debugfs_create_file() in thermal_debug_tz_add() and make tze_seq_start(), tze_seq_next(), tze_seq_stop(), and tze_seq_show() retrieve it from s->private instead of a pointer to the thermal zone object. This will ensure that tz_debugfs will be valid across the "mitigations" file accesses until thermal_debugfs_remove_id() called by thermal_debug_tz_remove() removes that file. To address the second problem, use tz->lock in thermal_debug_tz_remove() around the tz->debugfs value check (in case the same thermal zone is removed at the same time in two different threads) and its reset to NULL. Cc :6.8+ <[email protected]> # 6.8+ It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2024-36961? +
CVE-2024-36961 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.
What products are affected by CVE-2024-36961? +
CVE-2024-36961 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2024-36961? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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