CVE-2024-42304: linux kernel — Fix

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: make sure the first directory block is not a hole The syzbot constructs a directory that has no dirblock but is non-inline, i.e. the first directory block is a hole. And no errors are reported when creating files in this directory in the following flow. ext4_mknod ... ext4_add_entry // Read block 0 ext4_read_dirblock(dir, block, DIRENT) bh = ext4_bread(NULL, inode, block, 0) if (!bh && (type == INDEX || type == DIRENT_HTREE)) // The first directory block is a hole // But type == DIRENT, so no error is reported. After that, we get a directory block without '.' and '..' but with a valid dentry. This may cause some code that relies on dot or dotdot (such as make_indexed_dir()) to crash. Therefore when ext4_read_dirblock() finds that the first directory block is a hole report that the filesystem is corrupted and return an error to avoid loading corrupted data from disk causing something bad.

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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

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
linux	linux_kernel	4.9.187 — 4.10
linux	linux_kernel	4.14.135 — 4.15
linux	linux_kernel	4.19.62 — 4.19.320
linux	linux_kernel	5.1.21 — 5.2
linux	linux_kernel	5.2.4 — 5.4.282
linux	linux_kernel	5.5 — 5.10.224
linux	linux_kernel	5.11 — 5.15.165
linux	linux_kernel	5.16 — 6.1.103
linux	linux_kernel	6.2 — 6.6.44
linux	linux_kernel	6.7 — 6.10.3

References

Advisories & Patches

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/299bc6ffa57e04e74c6cce866d6c0741fb4897a1 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9771e3d8365ae1dd5e8846a204cb9af14e3e656a https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b609753cbbd38f8c0affd4956c0af178348523ac https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3893d9de8ee153baac56d127d844103488133b5 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d81d7e347d1f1f48a5634607d39eb90c161c8afe https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/de2a011a13a46468a6e8259db58b1b62071fe136 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e02f9941e8c011aa3eafa799def6a134ce06bcfa https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f9ca51596bbfd0f9c386dd1c613c394c78d9e5e6

Other References

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/10/msg00003.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00001.html https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-42304? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: make sure the first directory block is not a hole The syzbot constructs a directory that has no dirblock but is non-inline, i.e. the first directory block is a hole. And no errors are reported when creating files in this directory in the following flow. ext4_mknod ... ext4_add_entry // Read block 0 ext4_read_dirblock(dir, block, DIRENT) bh = ext4_bread(NULL, inode, block, 0) if (!bh && (type == INDEX || type == DIRENT_HTREE)) // The first directory block is a hole // But type == DIRENT, so no error is reported. After that, we get a directory block without '.' and '..' but with a valid dentry. This may cause some code that relies on dot or dotdot (such as make_indexed_dir()) to crash. Therefore when ext4_read_dirblock() finds that the first directory block is a hole report that the filesystem is corrupted and return an error to avoid loading corrupted data from disk causing something bad. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2024-42304? +

CVE-2024-42304 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-2024-42304? +

CVE-2024-42304 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-2024-42304? +

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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