# CVE-2024-26681: netdevsim: avoid potential loop in nsim_dev_trap_report_work()

> A potential infinite loop in the Linux kernel netdevsim driver can cause a denial of service by consuming CPU resources.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26681, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26681, GHSA-968x-w27q-c8fx, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26681

## What is CVE-2024-26681?

CVE-2024-26681 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Apr 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netdevsim: avoid potential loop in nsim_dev_trap_report_work()

Many syzbot reports include the following trace [1]

If nsim_dev_trap_report_work() can not grab the mutex,
it should rearm itself at least one jiffie later.

[1]
Sending NMI from CPU 1 to CPUs 0:
NMI backtrace for cpu 0
CPU: 0 PID: 32383 Comm: kworker/0:2 Not tainted 6.8.0-rc2-syzkaller-00031-g861c0981648f #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 11/17/2023
Workqueue: events nsim_dev_trap_report_work
 RIP: 0010:bytes_is_nonzero mm/kasan/generic.c:89 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:memory_is_nonzero mm/kasan/generic.c:104 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:memory_is_poisoned_n mm/kasan/generic.c:129 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:memory_is_poisoned mm/kasan/generic.c:161 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:180 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:kasan_check_range+0x101/0x190 mm/kasan/generic.c:189
Code: 07 49 39 d1 75 0a 45 3a 11 b8 01 00 00 00 7c 0b 44 89 c2 e8 21 ed ff ff 83 f0 01 5b 5d 41 5c c3 48 85 d2 74 4f 48 01 ea eb 09 <48> 83 c0 01 48 39 d0 74 41 80 38 00 74 f2 eb b6 41 bc 08 00 00 00
RSP: 0018:ffffc90012dcf998 EFLAGS: 00000046
RAX: fffffbfff258af1e RBX: fffffbfff258af1f RCX: ffffffff8168eda3
RDX: fffffbfff258af1f RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: ffffffff92c578f0
RBP: fffffbfff258af1e R08: 0000000000000000 R09: fffffbfff258af1e
R10: ffffffff92c578f3 R11: ffffffff8acbcbc0 R12: 0000000000000002
R13: ffff88806db38400 R14: 1ffff920025b9f42 R15: ffffffff92c578e8
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 000000c00994e078 CR3: 000000002c250000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 <NMI>
 </NMI>
 <TASK>
  instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:68 [inline]
  atomic_read include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:32 [inline]
  queued_spin_is_locked include/asm-generic/qspinlock.h:57 [inline]
  debug_spin_unlock kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:101 [inline]
  do_raw_spin_unlock+0x53/0x230 kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:141
  __raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:150 [inline]
  _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x22/0x70 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194
  debug_object_activate+0x349/0x540 lib/debugobjects.c:726
  debug_work_activate kernel/workqueue.c:578 [inline]
  insert_work+0x30/0x230 kernel/workqueue.c:1650
  __queue_work+0x62e/0x11d0 kernel/workqueue.c:1802
  __queue_delayed_work+0x1bf/0x270 kernel/workqueue.c:1953
  queue_delayed_work_on+0x106/0x130 kernel/workqueue.c:1989
  queue_delayed_work include/linux/workqueue.h:563 [inline]
  schedule_delayed_work include/linux/workqueue.h:677 [inline]
  nsim_dev_trap_report_work+0x9c0/0xc80 drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c:842
  process_one_work+0x886/0x15d0 kernel/workqueue.c:2633
  process_scheduled_works kernel/workqueue.c:2706 [inline]
  worker_thread+0x8b9/0x1290 kernel/workqueue.c:2787
  kthread+0x2c6/0x3a0 kernel/kthread.c:388
  ret_from_fork+0x45/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147
  ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:242
 </TASK>

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26681?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-26681?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-26681 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26681 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26681 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-26681 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Apr 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26681 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26681/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26681/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26681
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26681
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26681

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26681/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.