# CVE-2024-42114: wifi: cfg80211: restrict NL80211_ATTR_TXQ_QUANTUM values

> An attacker can cause a system soft lockup and denial of service by setting an excessively large WiFi transmission queue quantum value.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 30 Jul 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-48261, BELL-CVE-2024-42114, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-42114, GHSA-hj3c-gwrc-6jch, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-42114

## What is CVE-2024-42114?

CVE-2024-42114 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 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:

wifi: cfg80211: restrict NL80211_ATTR_TXQ_QUANTUM values

syzbot is able to trigger softlockups, setting NL80211_ATTR_TXQ_QUANTUM
to 2^31.

We had a similar issue in sch_fq, fixed with commit
d9e15a273306 ("pkt_sched: fq: do not accept silly TCA_FQ_QUANTUM")

watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#1 stuck for 26s! [kworker/1:0:24]
Modules linked in:
irq event stamp: 131135
 hardirqs last  enabled at (131134): [<ffff80008ae8778c>] __exit_to_kernel_mode arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:85 [inline]
 hardirqs last  enabled at (131134): [<ffff80008ae8778c>] exit_to_kernel_mode+0xdc/0x10c arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:95
 hardirqs last disabled at (131135): [<ffff80008ae85378>] __el1_irq arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:533 [inline]
 hardirqs last disabled at (131135): [<ffff80008ae85378>] el1_interrupt+0x24/0x68 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:551
 softirqs last  enabled at (125892): [<ffff80008907e82c>] neigh_hh_init net/core/neighbour.c:1538 [inline]
 softirqs last  enabled at (125892): [<ffff80008907e82c>] neigh_resolve_output+0x268/0x658 net/core/neighbour.c:1553
 softirqs last disabled at (125896): [<ffff80008904166c>] local_bh_disable+0x10/0x34 include/linux/bottom_half.h:19
CPU: 1 PID: 24 Comm: kworker/1:0 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc7-syzkaller-gfda5695d692c #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 03/27/2024
Workqueue: mld mld_ifc_work
pstate: 80400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
 pc : __list_del include/linux/list.h:195 [inline]
 pc : __list_del_entry include/linux/list.h:218 [inline]
 pc : list_move_tail include/linux/list.h:310 [inline]
 pc : fq_tin_dequeue include/net/fq_impl.h:112 [inline]
 pc : ieee80211_tx_dequeue+0x6b8/0x3b4c net/mac80211/tx.c:3854
 lr : __list_del_entry include/linux/list.h:218 [inline]
 lr : list_move_tail include/linux/list.h:310 [inline]
 lr : fq_tin_dequeue include/net/fq_impl.h:112 [inline]
 lr : ieee80211_tx_dequeue+0x67c/0x3b4c net/mac80211/tx.c:3854
sp : ffff800093d36700
x29: ffff800093d36a60 x28: ffff800093d36960 x27: dfff800000000000
x26: ffff0000d800ad50 x25: ffff0000d800abe0 x24: ffff0000d800abf0
x23: ffff0000e0032468 x22: ffff0000e00324d4 x21: ffff0000d800abf0
x20: ffff0000d800abf8 x19: ffff0000d800abf0 x18: ffff800093d363c0
x17: 000000000000d476 x16: ffff8000805519dc x15: ffff7000127a6cc8
x14: 1ffff000127a6cc8 x13: 0000000000000004 x12: ffffffffffffffff
x11: ffff7000127a6cc8 x10: 0000000000ff0100 x9 : 0000000000000000
x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
x5 : ffff80009287aa08 x4 : 0000000000000008 x3 : ffff80008034c7fc
x2 : ffff0000e0032468 x1 : 00000000da0e46b8 x0 : ffff0000e0032470
Call trace:
  __list_del include/linux/list.h:195 [inline]
  __list_del_entry include/linux/list.h:218 [inline]
  list_move_tail include/linux/list.h:310 [inline]
  fq_tin_dequeue include/net/fq_impl.h:112 [inline]
  ieee80211_tx_dequeue+0x6b8/0x3b4c net/mac80211/tx.c:3854
  wake_tx_push_queue net/mac80211/util.c:294 [inline]
  ieee80211_handle_wake_tx_queue+0x118/0x274 net/mac80211/util.c:315
  drv_wake_tx_queue net/mac80211/driver-ops.h:1350 [inline]
  schedule_and_wake_txq net/mac80211/driver-ops.h:1357 [inline]
  ieee80211_queue_skb+0x18e8/0x2244 net/mac80211/tx.c:1664
  ieee80211_tx+0x260/0x400 net/mac80211/tx.c:1966
  ieee80211_xmit+0x278/0x354 net/mac80211/tx.c:2062
  __ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0xab8/0x122c net/mac80211/tx.c:4338
  ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0xe0/0x438 net/mac80211/tx.c:4532
  __netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4903 [inline]
  netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4917 [inline]
  xmit_one net/core/dev.c:3531 [inline]
  dev_hard_start_xmit+0x27c/0x938 net/core/dev.c:3547
  __dev_queue_xmit+0x1678/0x33fc net/core/dev.c:4341
  dev_queue_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:3091 [inline]
  neigh_resolve_output+0x558/0x658 net/core/neighbour.c:1563
  neigh_output include/net/neighbour.h:542 [inline]
  ip6_fini
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-42114?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-42114?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-42114 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-42114 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-2024-42114 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-42114 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 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-2024-42114 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-2024-42114/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42114/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-42114
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42114
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-42114

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42114/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
