# CVE-2024-37356: tcp: Fix shift-out-of-bounds in dctcp_update_alpha().

> A local attacker with write access to module parameters can trigger a shift-out-of-bounds error in the Linux kernel TCP DCTCP module, causing a 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:** 21 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-37356, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-37356, GHSA-qcvj-pcjx-jv76, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-37356

## What is CVE-2024-37356?

CVE-2024-37356 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Jun 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:

tcp: Fix shift-out-of-bounds in dctcp_update_alpha().

In dctcp_update_alpha(), we use a module parameter dctcp_shift_g
as follows:

  alpha -= min_not_zero(alpha, alpha >> dctcp_shift_g);
  ...
  delivered_ce <<= (10 - dctcp_shift_g);

It seems syzkaller started fuzzing module parameters and triggered
shift-out-of-bounds [0] by setting 100 to dctcp_shift_g:

  memcpy((void*)0x20000080,
         "/sys/module/tcp_dctcp/parameters/dctcp_shift_g\000", 47);
  res = syscall(__NR_openat, /*fd=*/0xffffffffffffff9cul, /*file=*/0x20000080ul,
                /*flags=*/2ul, /*mode=*/0ul);
  memcpy((void*)0x20000000, "100\000", 4);
  syscall(__NR_write, /*fd=*/r[0], /*val=*/0x20000000ul, /*len=*/4ul);

Let's limit the max value of dctcp_shift_g by param_set_uint_minmax().

With this patch:

  # echo 10 > /sys/module/tcp_dctcp/parameters/dctcp_shift_g
  # cat /sys/module/tcp_dctcp/parameters/dctcp_shift_g
  10
  # echo 11 > /sys/module/tcp_dctcp/parameters/dctcp_shift_g
  -bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument

[0]:
UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in net/ipv4/tcp_dctcp.c:143:12
shift exponent 100 is too large for 32-bit type 'u32' (aka 'unsigned int')
CPU: 0 PID: 8083 Comm: syz-executor345 Not tainted 6.9.0-05151-g1b294a1f3561 #2
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS
1.13.0-1ubuntu1.1 04/01/2014
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0x201/0x300 lib/dump_stack.c:114
 ubsan_epilogue lib/ubsan.c:231 [inline]
 __ubsan_handle_shift_out_of_bounds+0x346/0x3a0 lib/ubsan.c:468
 dctcp_update_alpha+0x540/0x570 net/ipv4/tcp_dctcp.c:143
 tcp_in_ack_event net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:3802 [inline]
 tcp_ack+0x17b1/0x3bc0 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:3948
 tcp_rcv_state_process+0x57a/0x2290 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:6711
 tcp_v4_do_rcv+0x764/0xc40 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:1937
 sk_backlog_rcv include/net/sock.h:1106 [inline]
 __release_sock+0x20f/0x350 net/core/sock.c:2983
 release_sock+0x61/0x1f0 net/core/sock.c:3549
 mptcp_subflow_shutdown+0x3d0/0x620 net/mptcp/protocol.c:2907
 mptcp_check_send_data_fin+0x225/0x410 net/mptcp/protocol.c:2976
 __mptcp_close+0x238/0xad0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:3072
 mptcp_close+0x2a/0x1a0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:3127
 inet_release+0x190/0x1f0 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:437
 __sock_release net/socket.c:659 [inline]
 sock_close+0xc0/0x240 net/socket.c:1421
 __fput+0x41b/0x890 fs/file_table.c:422
 task_work_run+0x23b/0x300 kernel/task_work.c:180
 exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:38 [inline]
 do_exit+0x9c8/0x2540 kernel/exit.c:878
 do_group_exit+0x201/0x2b0 kernel/exit.c:1027
 __do_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1038 [inline]
 __se_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1036 [inline]
 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x3f/0x40 kernel/exit.c:1036
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xe4/0x240 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f
RIP: 0033:0x7f6c2b5005b6
Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0x7f6c2b50058c.
RSP: 002b:00007ffe883eb948 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000e7
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f6c2b5862f0 RCX: 00007f6c2b5005b6
RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 000000000000003c RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 00000000000000e7 R09: ffffffffffffffc0
R10: 0000000000000006 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f6c2b5862f0
R13: 0000000000000001 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000001
 </TASK>

Weakness: CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-37356?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-37356?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-37356 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-37356 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-2024-37356 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-37356 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Jun 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-2024-37356 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-2024-37356/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-37356/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-37356
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-37356
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-37356

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-37356/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.