CVE-2024-40981

Local denial of service via empty-bucket traversal

Published Jul 12, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026

Denial of service in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to trigger a soft lockup during batman-adv originator cleanup. batadv_purge_orig_ref traverses the originator hash table without first bypassing empty buckets, permitting cleanup work to consume excessive CPU time; the upstream record states that the underlying root cause remains unknown. Low-privileged local access is required, and the documented consequence is a CPU soft lockup rather than data disclosure or modification.

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 affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to trigger a soft lockup during batman-adv originator cleanup. batadv_purge_orig_ref traverses the originator hash table without first bypassing empty buckets, permitting cleanup work to consume excessive CPU time; the upstream record states that the underlying root cause remains unknown. Low-privileged local access is required, and the documented consequence is a CPU soft lockup rather than data disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-40981
Published
Jul 12, 2024
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-667, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 12, 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

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=2.6.39
  2. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <154e3f862ba33675cf3f4abf0a0a309a89df87d2
  3. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <2685008a5f9a636434a8508419cee8158a2f52c8
  4. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <40dc8ab605894acae1473e434944924a22cfaaa0
  5. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <79636f636126775436a11ee9cf00a9253a33ac11
  6. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <82cdea8f3af1e36543c937df963d108c60bea030
  7. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <92176caf9896572f00e741a93cecc0ef1172da07
  8. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <ae7f3cffe86aea3da0e8e079525a1ae619b8862a
  9. Affected versionversion=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <fed7914858a1f1f3e6350bb0f620d6ef15107d16

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=2.6.39; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <154e3f862ba33675cf3f4abf0a0a309a89df87d2; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <2685008a5f9a636434a8508419cee8158a2f52c8; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <40dc8ab605894acae1473e434944924a22cfaaa0; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <79636f636126775436a11ee9cf00a9253a33ac11; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <82cdea8f3af1e36543c937df963d108c60bea030; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <92176caf9896572f00e741a93cecc0ef1172da07; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <ae7f3cffe86aea3da0e8e079525a1ae619b8862a; version=fb778ea173fcd58b8fc3d75c674f07fab187b55f <fed7914858a1f1f3e6350bb0f620d6ef15107d16

Published CVSS scores

5.5CanonicalCVSS: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

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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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
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-667Improper Locking
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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