# CVE-2024-39296: bonding: fix oops during rmmod

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel bonding module during removal can cause a system crash, requiring a patch to reorder cleanup operations.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 25 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-39296, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-39296, GHSA-rw9r-wqx2-72f7, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-39296

## What is CVE-2024-39296?

CVE-2024-39296 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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:

bonding: fix oops during rmmod

"rmmod bonding" causes an oops ever since commit cc317ea3d927 ("bonding:
remove redundant NULL check in debugfs function").  Here are the relevant
functions being called:

bonding_exit()
  bond_destroy_debugfs()
    debugfs_remove_recursive(bonding_debug_root);
    bonding_debug_root = NULL; <--------- SET TO NULL HERE
  bond_netlink_fini()
    rtnl_link_unregister()
      __rtnl_link_unregister()
        unregister_netdevice_many_notify()
          bond_uninit()
            bond_debug_unregister()
              (commit removed check for bonding_debug_root == NULL)
              debugfs_remove()
              simple_recursive_removal()
                down_write() -> OOPS

However, reverting the bad commit does not solve the problem completely
because the original code contains a race that could cause the same
oops, although it was much less likely to be triggered unintentionally:

CPU1
  rmmod bonding
    bonding_exit()
      bond_destroy_debugfs()
        debugfs_remove_recursive(bonding_debug_root);

CPU2
  echo -bond0 > /sys/class/net/bonding_masters
    bond_uninit()
      bond_debug_unregister()
        if (!bonding_debug_root)

CPU1
        bonding_debug_root = NULL;

So do NOT revert the bad commit (since the removed checks were racy
anyway), and instead change the order of actions taken during module
removal.  The same oops can also happen if there is an error during
module init, so apply the same fix there.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-39296?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-39296?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-39296 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-39296 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-2024-39296 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-39296 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2024-39296 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-2024-39296/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-39296/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-39296
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-39296
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-39296

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-39296/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.