Guest crash via nonexistent netfront queue teardown
Published Dec 24, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026
NULL-pointer dereference in Linux xen-netfront allows remote authenticated users controlling a network backend to crash a guest after resume. During resume, the driver releases its queue structures for reallocation, but device removal before network I/O makes teardown stop nonexistent queues. Exploitation requires a suspended and resumed Linux guest using a paravirtualized NIC with a non-trusted network backend; the bounded consequence is a guest crash.
Summary
What happened
NULL-pointer dereference in Linux xen-netfront allows remote authenticated users controlling a network backend to crash a guest after resume. During resume, the driver releases its queue structures for reallocation, but device removal before network I/O makes teardown stop nonexistent queues. Exploitation requires a suspended and resumed Linux guest using a paravirtualized NIC with a non-trusted network backend; the bounded consequence is a guest crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-53240
- Published
- Dec 24, 2024
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- adjacent
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 24, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 23, 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=4.19.269 <4.20
- Affected versionversion=5.10.159 <5.10.232
- Affected versionversion=5.15.83 <5.15.175
- Affected versionversion=5.4.227 <5.4.288
- Affected versionversion=6.0.13 <6.1
- Affected versionversion=6.1
- Affected versionversion=99859947517e446058ad7243ee81d2f9801fa3dd
- Affected versionversion=d50b7914fae04d840ce36491d22133070b18cca9 <7728e974ffbf14f17648dd92ea640b42b654d47c
- Affected versionversion=d50b7914fae04d840ce36491d22133070b18cca9 <8b41e6bccf7de93982781be4125211443382e66d
- Affected versionversion=d50b7914fae04d840ce36491d22133070b18cca9 <f9244fb55f37356f75c739c57323d9422d7aa0f8
- Affected versionversion=d50b7914fae04d840ce36491d22133070b18cca9 <fe9a8f5250aed0948b668c8a4e051e3b0fc29f09
- Affected versionversion=e6860c889f4ad50b6ab696f5ea154295d72cf27a <1d5354a9182b6d302ae10367cbec1ca339d4e4e7
- Affected versionversion=e6e897d4fe2f89c0bd94600a40bedf5e6e75e050 <2657ba851fa3381256d81e431b20041dc232fd88
- Affected versionversion=ed773dd798bf720756d20021b8d8a4a3d7184bda <20f7f0cf7af5d81b218202ef504223af84b16a8f
- Affected versionversion=f2dd60fd3fe98bd36a91b0c6e10bfe9d66258f84
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
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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