Garbage-collection deadlock via stale OOB pointer
Published May 20, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Deadlock in affected Linux kernel revisions allows local users to hang AF_UNIX garbage collection through crafted OOB socket traffic. The manage_oob() path dequeues an OOB skb during recvmsg() without MSG_OOB but fails to clear unix_sock(sk)->oob_skb, leaving a stale reference that misleads polling and socket garbage collection. Exploitation requires local code able to create AF_UNIX sockets, pass a socket descriptor to itself as OOB data, block a normal receive, and close the sockets asynchronously; the resulting deadlock or persistent garbage can interrupt availability.
Summary
What happened
Deadlock in affected Linux kernel revisions allows local users to hang AF_UNIX garbage collection through crafted OOB socket traffic. The manage_oob() path dequeues an OOB skb during recvmsg() without MSG_OOB but fails to clear unix_sock(sk)->oob_skb, leaving a stale reference that misleads polling and socket garbage collection. Exploitation requires local code able to create AF_UNIX sockets, pass a socket descriptor to itself as OOB data, block a normal receive, and close the sockets asynchronously; the resulting deadlock or persistent garbage can interrupt availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-35970
- Published
- May 20, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 20, 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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=314001f0bf927015e459c9d387d62a231fe93af3 <601a89ea24d05089debfa2dc896ea9f5937ac7a6
- Affected versionversion=314001f0bf927015e459c9d387d62a231fe93af3 <698a95ade1a00e6494482046902b986dfffd1caf
- Affected versionversion=314001f0bf927015e459c9d387d62a231fe93af3 <84a352b7eba1142a95441380058985ff19f25ec9
- Affected versionversion=314001f0bf927015e459c9d387d62a231fe93af3 <b46f4eaa4f0ec38909fb0072eea3aeddb32f954e
- Affected versionversion=314001f0bf927015e459c9d387d62a231fe93af3 <b4bc99d04c689b5652665394ae8d3e02fb754153
- Affected versionversion=5.15
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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