libbpf: Prevent null-pointer dereference when prog to load has no BTF
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: libbpf: Prevent null-pointer dereference when prog to load has no BTF In bpf_objec_load_prog(), there's no guarantee that obj->btf is non-NULL when passing it to btf__fd(), and this function does not perform any check before dereferencing its argument (as bpf_object__btf_fd() used to do). As a consequence, we get segmentation fault errors in bpftool (for example) when trying to load programs that come without BTF information. v2: Keep btf__fd() in the fix instead of reverting to bpf_object__btf_fd().
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.8.12, 6.9.3, 6.10
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-38574
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-cv67-23pp-jfh2
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2024-38574 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-38574 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-cv67-23pp-jfh2 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2024-38574 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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