CVE-2024-38580 epoll: be better about file lifetimes

What is CVE-2024-38580?

CVE-2024-38580 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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:

epoll: be better about file lifetimes

epoll can call out to vfs_poll() with a file pointer that may race with the last 'fput()'. That would make f_count go down to zero, and while the ep->mtx locking means that the resulting file pointer tear-down will be blocked until the poll returns, it means that f_count is already dead, and any use of it won't actually get a reference to the file any more: it's dead regardless.

Make sure we have a valid ref on the file pointer before we call down to vfs_poll() from the epoll routines.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-38580?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-38580?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2024-38580 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-38580 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-38580, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-38580, GHSA-hxvp-53j6-m4qh, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-38580, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-38580.