Kernel crash via uninitialized JFFS2 inode target
Published Jul 30, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Invalid memory access in Linux JFFS2 allows local users to crash the kernel by accessing an inode during concurrent high-pressure operations. A destroy_inode path can run inside iget_locked before jffs2_init_inode_info initializes the inode's target member, so jffs2_free_inode passes an invalid pointer to kfree. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access to an already-mounted JFFS2 filesystem and a concurrent high-pressure inode teardown, resulting in service interruption from a kernel oops.
Summary
What happened
Invalid memory access in Linux JFFS2 allows local users to crash the kernel by accessing an inode during concurrent high-pressure operations. A destroy_inode path can run inside iget_locked before jffs2_init_inode_info initializes the inode's target member, so jffs2_free_inode passes an invalid pointer to kfree. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access to an already-mounted JFFS2 filesystem and a concurrent high-pressure inode teardown, resulting in service interruption from a kernel oops.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-42115
- Published
- Jul 30, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 30, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3.18.140 <3.19
- Affected versionversion=4.14.117 <4.15
- Affected versionversion=4.19.41 <4.19.318
- Affected versionversion=4.4.180 <4.5
- Affected versionversion=44a476cf0bc2209c3c91ad9815cccc4a5ea2ca72
- Affected versionversion=4.9.174 <4.10
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <05fc1ef892f862c1197b11b288bc00f602d2df0c
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <0b3246052e01e61a55bb3a15b76acb006759fe67
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <5ca26334fc8a3711fed14db7f9eb1c621be4df65
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <6d6d94287f6365282bbf41e9a5b5281985970789
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <751987a5d8ead0cc405fad96e83ebbaa51c82dbc
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <af9a8730ddb6a4b2edd779ccc0aceb994d616830
- Affected versionversion=4fdcfab5b5537c21891e22e65996d4d0dd8ab4ca <d0bbbf31462a400bef4df33e22de91864f475455
- Affected versionversion=5.0.14 <5.1
- Affected versionversion=5.1
- Affected versionversion=66559d395933540c5ae7fd26aacec1ddbe579a29
- Affected versionversion=90a015d4d782371571058672be7fecbc685e34ec
- Affected versionversion=e22c11da0a8683d22011bbce18da493c079d67b3 <b6c8b3e31eb88c85094d848a0bd8b4bafe67e4d8
- Affected versionversion=f9c04ee063108bfe16a7232429402866aa0ddd26
- Affected versionversion=ff250f4c804f342695c35e1a39b63666086f2cab
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