Worker hang via zero-delay mutex-failure requeue
Published Apr 2, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Infinite loop in the Linux kernel allows local users to hang a worker through netdevsim trap-report mutex contention. In drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c, nsim_dev_trap_report_work() immediately reschedules itself with zero delay when mutex_trylock() fails, creating a tight workqueue loop instead of yielding. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and affects availability only, without data disclosure or modification.
Summary
What happened
Infinite loop in the Linux kernel allows local users to hang a worker through netdevsim trap-report mutex contention. In drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c, nsim_dev_trap_report_work() immediately reschedules itself with zero delay when mutex_trylock() fails, creating a tight workqueue loop instead of yielding. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and affects availability only, without data disclosure or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-26681
- Published
- Apr 2, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-835, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 2, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=012ec02ae4410207f796a9b280a60b80b6cc790a <0193e0660cc6689c794794b471492923cfd7bfbc
- Affected versionversion=012ec02ae4410207f796a9b280a60b80b6cc790a <6eecddd9c3c8d6e3a097531cdc6d500335b35e46
- Affected versionversion=012ec02ae4410207f796a9b280a60b80b6cc790a <ba5e1272142d051dcc57ca1d3225ad8a089f9858
- Affected versionversion=012ec02ae4410207f796a9b280a60b80b6cc790a <d91964cdada76740811b7c621239f9c407820dbc
- Affected versionversion=6.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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