x86: stop playing stack games in profile_pc()
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
- Partial Red Hat: 11 fixed, 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-908 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86: stop playing stack games in profile_pc() The 'profile_pc()' function is used for timer-based profiling, which isn't really all that relevant any more to begin with, but it also ends up making assumptions based on the stack layout that aren't necessarily valid. Basically, the code tries to account the time spent in spinlocks to the caller rather than the spinlock, and while I support that as a concept, it's not worth the code complexity or the KASAN warnings when no serious profiling is done using timers anyway these days. And the code really does depend on stack layout that is only true in the simplest of cases. We've lost the comment at some point (I think when the 32-bit and 64-bit code was unified), but it used to say: Assume the lock function has either no stack frame or a copy of eflags from PUSHF. which explains why it just blindly loads a word or two straight off the stack pointer and then takes a minimal look at the values to just check if they might be eflags or the return pc: Eflags always has bits 22 and up cleared unlike kernel addresses but that basic stack layout assumption assumes that there isn't any lock debugging etc going on that would complicate the code and cause a stack frame. It causes KASAN unhappiness reported for years by syzkaller [1] and others [2]. With no real practical reason for this any more, just remove the code. Just for historical interest, here's some background commits relating to this code from 2006: 0cb91a229364 ("i386: Account spinlocks to the caller during profiling for !FP kernels") 31679f38d886 ("Simplify profile_pc on x86-64") and a code unification from 2009: ef4512882dbe ("x86: time_32/64.c unify profile_pc") but the basics of this thing actually goes back to before the git tree.
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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.12 and later | 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221, 5.15.162, 6.1.97, 6.6.37, 6.9.8, 6.10 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.12 and later Fixed in 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221, 5.15.162, 6.1.97, 6.6.37, 6.9.8, 6.10 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 6
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 4.19.317; 4.20 to before 5.4.279; 5.5 to before 5.10.221; 5.11 to before 5.15.162; 5.16 to before 6.1.97; 6.2 to before 6.6.37; 6.7 to before 6.9.8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.10 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.10 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.10 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.10 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.10 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 4.19.317; 4.20 to before 5.4.279; 5.5 to before 5.10.221; 5.11 to before 5.15.162; 5.16 to before 6.1.97; 6.2 to before 6.6.37; 6.7 to before 6.9.8 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.10 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.10 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.10 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.10 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.10:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.10 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.19.317, 5.4.279, 5.10.221, 5.15.162, 6.1.97, 6.6.37, 6.9.8, 6.10
Red Hat 3 advisories
- RHSA-2024:7000 Released 2024-09-24 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10 +19
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10
- RHSA-2024:7001 Released 2024-09-24 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel-rt security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10 +9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10 +7
- RHSA-2024:6567 Released 2024-09-11 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) kernel-64k-debug-devel-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-64k-devel-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4 +11
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) bpftool-7.3.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-64k-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4 +29
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 9) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, libperf-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4 +11
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 9) kernel-rt-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-5.14.0-427.35.1.el9_4 +9
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| RHOAI-2.13-RHEL-8 | Fixed | — |
| RHOAI-2.14-RHEL-8 | Fixed | — |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:6567 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7000 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:6567 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7000 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:6567 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7001 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:6567 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7001 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:6567 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-42096
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-vjj3-m2jf-2pfq
- 2026-10-29 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-31 Fix available: RHOAI-2.13-RHEL-8, RHOAI-2.14-RHEL-8 · Red Hat
References
Patch 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65ebdde16e7f5da99dbf8a548fb635837d78384e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/27c3be840911b15a3f24ed623f86153c825b6b29
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/49c09ca35a5f521d7fa18caf62fdf378f15e8aa4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d07fea561d64357fb7b3f3751e653bf20306d77
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/161cef818545ecf980f0e2ebaf8ba7326ce53c2b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/16222beb9f8e5ceb0beeb5cbe54bef16df501a92
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3b65c8cbc139bfce9541bc81c1bb766e5ba3f68
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/093d9603b60093a9aaae942db56107f6432a5dca
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-2024-42096 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-42096 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vjj3-m2jf-2pfq · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2024-42096 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences