Kernel memory corruption via PTP allocation overflow
Published Jul 12, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Integer overflow in Linux kernel PTP code allows local users to corrupt kernel memory through an oversized max_vclocks value. The max_vclocks_store sysfs handler multiplies a user-controlled 32-bit count by sizeof(int) before kzalloc, so wraparound allocates less space than the following vclock-index copy requires. The path exists only on 32-bit systems with a physical PTP clock and local write access; resulting out-of-bounds kernel writes can crash the system or corrupt kernel data.
Summary
What happened
Integer overflow in Linux kernel PTP code allows local users to corrupt kernel memory through an oversized max_vclocks value. The max_vclocks_store sysfs handler multiplies a user-controlled 32-bit count by sizeof(int) before kzalloc, so wraparound allocates less space than the following vclock-index copy requires. The path exists only on 32-bit systems with a physical PTP clock and local write access; resulting out-of-bounds kernel writes can crash the system or corrupt kernel data.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-40994
- Published
- Jul 12, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-190, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 12, 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=44c494c8e30e35713c7d11ca3c5ab332cbfabacf <4b03da87d0b7074c93d9662c6e1a8939f9b8b86e
- Affected versionversion=44c494c8e30e35713c7d11ca3c5ab332cbfabacf <666e934d749e50a37f3796caaf843a605f115b6f
- Affected versionversion=44c494c8e30e35713c7d11ca3c5ab332cbfabacf <81d23d2a24012e448f651e007fac2cfd20a45ce0
- Affected versionversion=44c494c8e30e35713c7d11ca3c5ab332cbfabacf <d50d62d5e6ee6aa03c00bddb91745d0b632d3b0f
- Affected versionversion=44c494c8e30e35713c7d11ca3c5ab332cbfabacf <e1fccfb4638ee6188377867f6015d0ce35764a8e
- Affected versionversion=5.14
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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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