CVE-2024-42282 net: mediatek: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference in dummy net_device handling

What is CVE-2024-42282?

CVE-2024-42282 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 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: mediatek: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference in dummy net_device handling

Move the freeing of the dummy net_device from mtk_free_dev() to mtk_remove().

Previously, if alloc_netdev_dummy() failed in mtk_probe(), eth->dummy_dev would be NULL. The error path would then call mtk_free_dev(), which in turn called free_netdev() assuming dummy_dev was allocated (but it was not), potentially causing a NULL pointer dereference.

By moving free_netdev() to mtk_remove(), we ensure it's only called when mtk_probe() has succeeded and dummy_dev is fully allocated. This addresses a potential NULL pointer dereference detected by Smatch[1].

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-42282?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-42282?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2024-42282 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-42282 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-42282, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-42282, GHSA-mhhw-j772-75h5, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-42282.