# CVE-2024-42246: net, sunrpc: Remap EPERM in case of connection failure in xs_tcp_setup_socket

> A Linux kernel bug causes an infinite loop and system freeze when a BPF program returns EPERM during TCP connection setup, requiring a patch.

- **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:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-47492, AZL-47626, BELL-CVE-2024-42246, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-42246, GHSA-899c-qvc8-9hpp, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-42246

## What is CVE-2024-42246?

CVE-2024-42246 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Aug 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:

net, sunrpc: Remap EPERM in case of connection failure in xs_tcp_setup_socket

When using a BPF program on kernel_connect(), the call can return -EPERM. This
causes xs_tcp_setup_socket() to loop forever, filling up the syslog and causing
the kernel to potentially freeze up.

Neil suggested:

  This will propagate -EPERM up into other layers which might not be ready
  to handle it. It might be safer to map EPERM to an error we would be more
  likely to expect from the network system - such as ECONNREFUSED or ENETDOWN.

ECONNREFUSED as error seems reasonable. For programs setting a different error
can be out of reach (see handling in 4fbac77d2d09) in particular on kernels
which do not have f10d05966196 ("bpf: Make BPF_PROG_RUN_ARRAY return -err
instead of allow boolean"), thus given that it is better to simply remap for
consistent behavior. UDP does handle EPERM in xs_udp_send_request().

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-42246?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-42246?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-42246 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-42246 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-2024-42246 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-42246 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Aug 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-2024-42246 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-2024-42246/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42246/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-42246
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42246
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-42246

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42246/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.