# CVE-2024-36901: ipv6: prevent NULL dereference in ip6_output()

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel IPv6 output path allows local attackers to cause a system crash.

- **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:** 30 May 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-42444, AZL-42495, BELL-CVE-2024-36901, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-36901, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-36901

## What is CVE-2024-36901?

CVE-2024-36901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 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:

ipv6: prevent NULL dereference in ip6_output()

According to syzbot, there is a chance that ip6_dst_idev()
returns NULL in ip6_output(). Most places in IPv6 stack
deal with a NULL idev just fine, but not here.

syzbot reported:

general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000bc: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000005e0-0x00000000000005e7]
CPU: 0 PID: 9775 Comm: syz-executor.4 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc5-syzkaller-00157-g6a30653b604a #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 03/27/2024
 RIP: 0010:ip6_output+0x231/0x3f0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:237
Code: 3c 1e 00 49 89 df 74 08 4c 89 ef e8 19 58 db f7 48 8b 44 24 20 49 89 45 00 49 89 c5 48 8d 9d e0 05 00 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 0f b6 04 38 84 c0 4c 8b 74 24 28 0f 85 61 01 00 00 8b 1b 31 ff
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000927f0d8 EFLAGS: 00010202
RAX: 00000000000000bc RBX: 00000000000005e0 RCX: 0000000000040000
RDX: ffffc900131f9000 RSI: 0000000000004f47 RDI: 0000000000004f48
RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: ffffffff8a1f0b9a R09: 1ffffffff1f51fad
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff1f51fae R12: ffff8880293ec8c0
R13: ffff88805d7fc000 R14: 1ffff1100527d91a R15: dffffc0000000000
FS:  00007f135c6856c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000020000080 CR3: 0000000064096000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
  NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:314 [inline]
  ip6_xmit+0xefe/0x17f0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:358
  sctp_v6_xmit+0x9f2/0x13f0 net/sctp/ipv6.c:248
  sctp_packet_transmit+0x26ad/0x2ca0 net/sctp/output.c:653
  sctp_packet_singleton+0x22c/0x320 net/sctp/outqueue.c:783
  sctp_outq_flush_ctrl net/sctp/outqueue.c:914 [inline]
  sctp_outq_flush+0x6d5/0x3e20 net/sctp/outqueue.c:1212
  sctp_side_effects net/sctp/sm_sideeffect.c:1198 [inline]
  sctp_do_sm+0x59cc/0x60c0 net/sctp/sm_sideeffect.c:1169
  sctp_primitive_ASSOCIATE+0x95/0xc0 net/sctp/primitive.c:73
  __sctp_connect+0x9cd/0xe30 net/sctp/socket.c:1234
  sctp_connect net/sctp/socket.c:4819 [inline]
  sctp_inet_connect+0x149/0x1f0 net/sctp/socket.c:4834
  __sys_connect_file net/socket.c:2048 [inline]
  __sys_connect+0x2df/0x310 net/socket.c:2065
  __do_sys_connect net/socket.c:2075 [inline]
  __se_sys_connect net/socket.c:2072 [inline]
  __x64_sys_connect+0x7a/0x90 net/socket.c:2072
  do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
  do_syscall_64+0xf5/0x240 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-36901?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-36901?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-36901 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-36901 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-2024-36901 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-36901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 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-2024-36901 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-2024-36901/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-36901/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-36901
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-36901
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-36901

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-36901/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.