CVE-2024-35981

Guest hang via zero-length RSS key buffer

Published May 20, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026

Denial of service in the Linux virtio_net driver allows local users to hang a QEMU guest by changing RSS hashing options. virtnet_commit_rss_command passes a zero-length RSS key scatter-gather entry to QEMU when RSS was not negotiated, causing QEMU to mark the virtio device broken while virtnet_send_command waits forever. The user must have administrative permission to reconfigure the guest interface; the affected guest kernel then consumes CPU in an infinite loop.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.23%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in the Linux virtio_net driver allows local users to hang a QEMU guest by changing RSS hashing options. virtnet_commit_rss_command passes a zero-length RSS key scatter-gather entry to QEMU when RSS was not negotiated, causing QEMU to mark the virtio device broken while virtnet_send_command waits forever. The user must have administrative permission to reconfigure the guest interface; the affected guest kernel then consumes CPU in an infinite loop.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-35981
Published
May 20, 2024
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-835, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 20, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.18
  2. Affected versionversion=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <059a49aa2e25c58f90b50151f109dd3c4cdb3a47
  3. Affected versionversion=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <28e9a64638cd16bc1ecac9ff74ffeacb9fb652de
  4. Affected versionversion=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <43a71c1b4b3a6d4db857b1435d271540279fc7de
  5. Affected versionversion=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <539a2b995a4ed93125cb0efae0f793b00ab2158b

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.18; version=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <059a49aa2e25c58f90b50151f109dd3c4cdb3a47; version=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <28e9a64638cd16bc1ecac9ff74ffeacb9fb652de; version=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <43a71c1b4b3a6d4db857b1435d271540279fc7de; version=c7114b1249fa3b5f3a434606ba4cc89c4a27d618 <539a2b995a4ed93125cb0efae0f793b00ab2158b

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-835Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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