Service interruption via leaked socket references
Published Sep 27, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Socket reference leakage in affected Linux kernel builds allows local users to interrupt service via crafted nftables traffic. In nft_socket_eval(), the NFT_SOCKET_MARK and NFT_SOCKET_WILDCARD failure paths return after a socket lookup without calling sock_gen_put() when the looked-up socket differs from skb->sk. Exploitation requires local access and low privileges to exercise the nftables socket expression; repeated evaluations retain socket references and can exhaust kernel resources until the host hangs or crashes.
Summary
What happened
Socket reference leakage in affected Linux kernel builds allows local users to interrupt service via crafted nftables traffic. In nft_socket_eval(), the NFT_SOCKET_MARK and NFT_SOCKET_WILDCARD failure paths return after a socket lookup without calling sock_gen_put() when the looked-up socket differs from skb->sk. Exploitation requires local access and low privileges to exercise the nftables socket expression; repeated evaluations retain socket references and can exhaust kernel resources until the host hangs or crashes.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-46855
- Published
- Sep 27, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-772, T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 27, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 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=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <076d281e90aaf4192799ecb9a1ed82321e133ecd
- Affected versionversion=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <1f68e097e20d3c695281a9c6433acc37be47fe11
- Affected versionversion=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <33c2258bf8cb17fba9e58b111d4c4f4cf43a4896
- Affected versionversion=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <6572440f78b724c46070841a68254ebc534cde24
- Affected versionversion=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <83e6fb59040e8964888afcaa5612cc1243736715
- Affected versionversion=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <8b26ff7af8c32cb4148b3e147c52f9e4c695209c
- Affected versionversion=039b1f4f24ecc8493b6bb9d70b4b78750d1b35c2 <ddc7c423c4a5386bf865474c694b48178efd311a
- Affected versionversion=4.19.76 <4.20
- Affected versionversion=5.2.18 <5.3
- Affected versionversion=5.3
- Affected versionversion=6934809432d23e9e0081f82d882b8fc765deeb4a
- Affected versionversion=f63432cd1bb224f61216e4a4726ff29ddffbed98
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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