# CVE-2024-40961: ipv6: prevent possible NULL deref in fib6_nh_init()

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel IPv6 routing code 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:** 12 Jul 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-40961, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40961, GHSA-75c8-gq9f-5jv5, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-40961

## What is CVE-2024-40961?

CVE-2024-40961 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jul 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 possible NULL deref in fib6_nh_init()

syzbot reminds us that in6_dev_get() can return NULL.

fib6_nh_init()
    ip6_validate_gw(  &idev  )
        ip6_route_check_nh(  idev  )
            *idev = in6_dev_get(dev); // can be NULL

Oops: 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: 11237 Comm: syz-executor.3 Not tainted 6.10.0-rc2-syzkaller-00249-gbe27b8965297 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 06/07/2024
 RIP: 0010:fib6_nh_init+0x640/0x2160 net/ipv6/route.c:3606
Code: 00 00 fc ff df 4c 8b 64 24 58 48 8b 44 24 28 4c 8b 74 24 30 48 89 c1 48 89 44 24 28 48 8d 98 e0 05 00 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 0f b6 04 38 84 c0 0f 85 b3 17 00 00 8b 1b 31 ff 89 de e8 b8 8b
RSP: 0018:ffffc900032775a0 EFLAGS: 00010202
RAX: 00000000000000bc RBX: 00000000000005e0 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 0000000000000010 RSI: ffffc90003277a54 RDI: ffff88802b3a08d8
RBP: ffffc900032778b0 R08: 00000000000002fc R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 00000000000002fc R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88802b3a08b8
R13: 1ffff9200064eec8 R14: ffffc90003277a00 R15: dffffc0000000000
FS:  00007f940feb06c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 00000000245e8000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
  ip6_route_info_create+0x99e/0x12b0 net/ipv6/route.c:3809
  ip6_route_add+0x28/0x160 net/ipv6/route.c:3853
  ipv6_route_ioctl+0x588/0x870 net/ipv6/route.c:4483
  inet6_ioctl+0x21a/0x280 net/ipv6/af_inet6.c:579
  sock_do_ioctl+0x158/0x460 net/socket.c:1222
  sock_ioctl+0x629/0x8e0 net/socket.c:1341
  vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
  __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline]
  __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:893
  do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
  do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7f940f07cea9

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-40961?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-40961?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-40961 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-40961 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-2024-40961 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-40961 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jul 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-2024-40961 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-2024-40961/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40961/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-40961
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-40961
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-40961

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40961/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.