# CVE-2024-35981: virtio_net: Do not send RSS key if it is not supported

> A local attacker can cause a kernel infinite loop and system hang by configuring RSS settings on a virtio_net interface, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 20 May 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-35981, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-35981, GHSA-vvc7-qvmv-vpjw, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35981

## What is CVE-2024-35981?

CVE-2024-35981 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 May 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:

virtio_net: Do not send RSS key if it is not supported

There is a bug when setting the RSS options in virtio_net that can break
the whole machine, getting the kernel into an infinite loop.

Running the following command in any QEMU virtual machine with virtionet
will reproduce this problem:

    # ethtool -X eth0  hfunc toeplitz

This is how the problem happens:

1) ethtool_set_rxfh() calls virtnet_set_rxfh()

2) virtnet_set_rxfh() calls virtnet_commit_rss_command()

3) virtnet_commit_rss_command() populates 4 entries for the rss
scatter-gather

4) Since the command above does not have a key, then the last
scatter-gatter entry will be zeroed, since rss_key_size == 0.
sg_buf_size = vi->rss_key_size;

5) This buffer is passed to qemu, but qemu is not happy with a buffer
with zero length, and do the following in virtqueue_map_desc() (QEMU
function):

  if (!sz) {
      virtio_error(vdev, "virtio: zero sized buffers are not allowed");

6) virtio_error() (also QEMU function) set the device as broken

    vdev->broken = true;

7) Qemu bails out, and do not repond this crazy kernel.

8) The kernel is waiting for the response to come back (function
virtnet_send_command())

9) The kernel is waiting doing the following :

      while (!virtqueue_get_buf(vi->cvq, &tmp) &&
	     !virtqueue_is_broken(vi->cvq))
	      cpu_relax();

10) None of the following functions above is true, thus, the kernel
loops here forever. Keeping in mind that virtqueue_is_broken() does
not look at the qemu `vdev->broken`, so, it never realizes that the
vitio is broken at QEMU side.

Fix it by not sending RSS commands if the feature is not available in
the device.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-35981?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-35981?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-35981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-35981 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-2024-35981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-35981 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 May 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-2024-35981 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-2024-35981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-35981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-35981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-35981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-35981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-35981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.