# CVE-2024-26857: geneve: make sure to pull inner header in geneve_rx()

> An attacker can trigger an uninitialized value read in the Linux kernel's GENEVE driver, potentially leaking sensitive memory contents.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26857, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26857, GHSA-q8qv-35px-5j77, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26857

## What is CVE-2024-26857?

CVE-2024-26857 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 17 Apr 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

geneve: make sure to pull inner header in geneve_rx()

syzbot triggered a bug in geneve_rx() [1]

Issue is similar to the one I fixed in commit 8d975c15c0cd
("ip6_tunnel: make sure to pull inner header in __ip6_tnl_rcv()")

We have to save skb->network_header in a temporary variable
in order to be able to recompute the network_header pointer
after a pskb_inet_may_pull() call.

pskb_inet_may_pull() makes sure the needed headers are in skb->head.

[1]
BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in IP_ECN_decapsulate include/net/inet_ecn.h:302 [inline]
 BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in geneve_rx drivers/net/geneve.c:279 [inline]
 BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in geneve_udp_encap_recv+0x36f9/0x3c10 drivers/net/geneve.c:391
  IP_ECN_decapsulate include/net/inet_ecn.h:302 [inline]
  geneve_rx drivers/net/geneve.c:279 [inline]
  geneve_udp_encap_recv+0x36f9/0x3c10 drivers/net/geneve.c:391
  udp_queue_rcv_one_skb+0x1d39/0x1f20 net/ipv4/udp.c:2108
  udp_queue_rcv_skb+0x6ae/0x6e0 net/ipv4/udp.c:2186
  udp_unicast_rcv_skb+0x184/0x4b0 net/ipv4/udp.c:2346
  __udp4_lib_rcv+0x1c6b/0x3010 net/ipv4/udp.c:2422
  udp_rcv+0x7d/0xa0 net/ipv4/udp.c:2604
  ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x264/0x1300 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:205
  ip_local_deliver_finish+0x2b8/0x440 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:233
  NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:314 [inline]
  ip_local_deliver+0x21f/0x490 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:254
  dst_input include/net/dst.h:461 [inline]
  ip_rcv_finish net/ipv4/ip_input.c:449 [inline]
  NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:314 [inline]
  ip_rcv+0x46f/0x760 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:569
  __netif_receive_skb_one_core net/core/dev.c:5534 [inline]
  __netif_receive_skb+0x1a6/0x5a0 net/core/dev.c:5648
  process_backlog+0x480/0x8b0 net/core/dev.c:5976
  __napi_poll+0xe3/0x980 net/core/dev.c:6576
  napi_poll net/core/dev.c:6645 [inline]
  net_rx_action+0x8b8/0x1870 net/core/dev.c:6778
  __do_softirq+0x1b7/0x7c5 kernel/softirq.c:553
  do_softirq+0x9a/0xf0 kernel/softirq.c:454
  __local_bh_enable_ip+0x9b/0xa0 kernel/softirq.c:381
  local_bh_enable include/linux/bottom_half.h:33 [inline]
  rcu_read_unlock_bh include/linux/rcupdate.h:820 [inline]
  __dev_queue_xmit+0x2768/0x51c0 net/core/dev.c:4378
  dev_queue_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:3171 [inline]
  packet_xmit+0x9c/0x6b0 net/packet/af_packet.c:276
  packet_snd net/packet/af_packet.c:3081 [inline]
  packet_sendmsg+0x8aef/0x9f10 net/packet/af_packet.c:3113
  sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline]
  __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:745 [inline]
  __sys_sendto+0x735/0xa10 net/socket.c:2191
  __do_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2203 [inline]
  __se_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2199 [inline]
  __x64_sys_sendto+0x125/0x1c0 net/socket.c:2199
  do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
  do_syscall_64+0xcf/0x1e0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0x6b

Uninit was created at:
  slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:3819 [inline]
  slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3860 [inline]
  kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x5cb/0xbc0 mm/slub.c:3903
  kmalloc_reserve+0x13d/0x4a0 net/core/skbuff.c:560
  __alloc_skb+0x352/0x790 net/core/skbuff.c:651
  alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1296 [inline]
  alloc_skb_with_frags+0xc8/0xbd0 net/core/skbuff.c:6394
  sock_alloc_send_pskb+0xa80/0xbf0 net/core/sock.c:2783
  packet_alloc_skb net/packet/af_packet.c:2930 [inline]
  packet_snd net/packet/af_packet.c:3024 [inline]
  packet_sendmsg+0x70c2/0x9f10 net/packet/af_packet.c:3113
  sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline]
  __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:745 [inline]
  __sys_sendto+0x735/0xa10 net/socket.c:2191
  __do_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2203 [inline]
  __se_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2199 [inline]
  __x64_sys_sendto+0x125/0x1c0 net/socket.c:2199
  do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
  do_syscall_64+0xcf/0x1e0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0x6b

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26857?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-26857?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-26857 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26857 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26857 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-26857 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 17 Apr 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26857 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2024-26857/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26857/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26857
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26857
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26857

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26857/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
