Local privilege escalation via stale DVB pointer
Published May 1, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux kernel DVB device registration allows local users to gain kernel privileges through device re-probing. In dvb_register_device, error paths free dvbdev without clearing the caller's pdvbdev pointer, which later reaches kref_put during unregister handling. An unprivileged local account must induce memory or DVB-minor exhaustion and re-probe an existing tuner; exploitation enables privilege escalation or a kernel panic.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel DVB device registration allows local users to gain kernel privileges through device re-probing. In dvb_register_device, error paths free dvbdev without clearing the caller's pdvbdev pointer, which later reaches kref_put during unregister handling. An unprivileged local account must induce memory or DVB-minor exhaustion and re-probe an existing tuner; exploitation enables privilege escalation or a kernel panic.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-27043
- Published
- May 1, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 1, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 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=2.6.21
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <096237039d00c839f3e3a5fe6d001bf0db45b644
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <0d3fe80b6d175c220b3e252efc6c6777e700e98e
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <35674111a043b0482a9bc69da8850a83f465b07d
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <437a111f79a2f5b2a5f21e27fdec6f40c8768712
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <779e8db7efb22316c8581d6c229636d2f5694a62
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <8c64f4cdf4e6cc5682c52523713af8c39c94e6d5
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <b7586e902128e4fb7bfbb661cb52e4215a65637b
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <d0f5c28333822f9baa5280d813124920720fd856
- Affected versionversion=b61901024776b25ce7b8edc31bb1757c7382a88e <f20c3270f3ed5aa6919a87e4de9bf6c05fb57086
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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Public exploit references
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Technologies
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