CVE-2024-41004 tracing: Build event generation tests only as modules

Medium 5.5 Published 12 Jul 2024 Updated 15 Oct 2026

A kernel bug causes self-test failures and potential instability when tracing test modules are built-in rather than as loadable modules.

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

What is CVE-2024-41004?

CVE-2024-41004 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

tracing: Build event generation tests only as modules

The kprobes and synth event generation test modules add events and lock (get a reference) those event file reference in module init function, and unlock and delete it in module exit function. This is because those are designed for playing as modules.

If we make those modules as built-in, those events are left locked in the kernel, and never be removed. This causes kprobe event self-test failure as below.

[ 97.349708] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 97.353453] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 1 at kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c:2133 kprobe_trace_self_tests_init+0x3f1/0x480 [ 97.357106] Modules linked in: [ 97.358488] CPU: 3 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.9.0-g699646734ab5-dirty #14 [ 97.361556] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 [ 97.363880] RIP: 0010:kprobe_trace_self_tests_init+0x3f1/0x480 [ 97.365538] Code: a8 24 08 82 e9 ae fd ff ff 90 0f 0b 90 48 c7 c7 e5 aa 0b 82 e9 ee fc ff ff 90 0f 0b 90 48 c7 c7 2d 61 06 82 e9 8e fd ff ff 90 <0f> 0b 90 48 c7 c7 33 0b 0c 82 89 c6 e8 6e 03 1f ff 41 ff c7 e9 90 [ 97.370429] RSP: 0000:ffffc90000013b50 EFLAGS: 00010286 [ 97.371852] RAX: 00000000fffffff0 RBX: ffff888005919c00 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 97.373829] RDX: ffff888003f40000 RSI: ffffffff8236a598 RDI: ffff888003f40a68 [ 97.375715] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 97.377675] R10: ffffffff811c9ae5 R11: ffffffff8120c4e0 R12: 0000000000000000 [ 97.379591] R13: 0000000000000001 R14: 0000000000000015 R15: 0000000000000000 [ 97.381536] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88807dcc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 97.383813] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 97.385449] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000002244000 CR4: 00000000000006b0 [ 97.387347] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 97.389277] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 97.391196] Call Trace: [ 97.391967] <TASK> [ 97.392647] ? __warn+0xcc/0x180 [ 97.393640] ? kprobe_trace_self_tests_init+0x3f1/0x480 [ 97.395181] ? report_bug+0xbd/0x150 [ 97.396234] ? handle_bug+0x3e/0x60 [ 97.397311] ? exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x50 [ 97.398434] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20 [ 97.399652] ? trace_kprobe_is_busy+0x20/0x20 [ 97.400904] ? tracing_reset_all_online_cpus+0x15/0x90 [ 97.402304] ? kprobe_trace_self_tests_init+0x3f1/0x480 [ 97.403773] ? init_kprobe_trace+0x50/0x50 [ 97.404972] do_one_initcall+0x112/0x240 [ 97.406113] do_initcall_level+0x95/0xb0 [ 97.407286] ? kernel_init+0x1a/0x1a0 [ 97.408401] do_initcalls+0x3f/0x70 [ 97.409452] kernel_init_freeable+0x16f/0x1e0 [ 97.410662] ? rest_init+0x1f0/0x1f0 [ 97.411738] kernel_init+0x1a/0x1a0 [ 97.412788] ret_from_fork+0x39/0x50 [ 97.413817] ? rest_init+0x1f0/0x1f0 [ 97.414844] ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20 [ 97.416285] </TASK> [ 97.417134] irq event stamp: 13437323 [ 97.418376] hardirqs last enabled at (13437337): [<ffffffff8110bc0c>] console_unlock+0x11c/0x150 [ 97.421285] hardirqs last disabled at (13437370): [<ffffffff8110bbf1>] console_unlock+0x101/0x150 [ 97.423838] softirqs last enabled at (13437366): [<ffffffff8108e17f>] handle_softirqs+0x23f/0x2a0 [ 97.426450] softirqs last disabled at (13437393): [<ffffffff8108e346>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x66/0xd0 [ 97.428850] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

And also, since we can not cleanup dynamic_event file, ftracetest are failed too.

To avoid these issues, build these tests only as modules.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-41004?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-41004?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2024-41004 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-41004 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-41004, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-41004, GHSA-jm4h-j9rh-c7q6, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-41004.