# CVE-2024-44989: bonding: fix xfrm real_dev null pointer dereference

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel bonding driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash via race conditions during interface failover.

- **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:** 4 Sep 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-48719, AZL-48765, BELL-CVE-2024-44989, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-44989, GHSA-gfrq-fc5g-52f6, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-44989

## What is CVE-2024-44989?

CVE-2024-44989 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Sep 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:

bonding: fix xfrm real_dev null pointer dereference

We shouldn't set real_dev to NULL because packets can be in transit and
xfrm might call xdo_dev_offload_ok() in parallel. All callbacks assume
real_dev is set.

 Example trace:
 kernel: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000000001030
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): making interface the new active one
 kernel: #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
 kernel: #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page
 kernel: PGD 0 P4D 0
 kernel: Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
 kernel: CPU: 4 PID: 2237 Comm: ping Not tainted 6.7.7+ #12
 kernel: Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-2.fc40 04/01/2014
 kernel: RIP: 0010:nsim_ipsec_offload_ok+0xc/0x20 [netdevsim]
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): bond_ipsec_add_sa_all: failed to add SA
 kernel: Code: e0 0f 0b 48 83 7f 38 00 74 de 0f 0b 48 8b 47 08 48 8b 37 48 8b 78 40 e9 b2 e5 9a d7 66 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 8b 86 80 02 00 00 <83> 80 30 10 00 00 01 b8 01 00 00 00 c3 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 0f 1f
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): making interface the new active one
 kernel: RSP: 0018:ffffabde81553b98 EFLAGS: 00010246
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): bond_ipsec_add_sa_all: failed to add SA
 kernel:
 kernel: RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff9eb404e74900 RCX: ffff9eb403d97c60
 kernel: RDX: ffffffffc090de10 RSI: ffff9eb404e74900 RDI: ffff9eb3c5de9e00
 kernel: RBP: ffff9eb3c0a42000 R08: 0000000000000010 R09: 0000000000000014
 kernel: R10: 7974203030303030 R11: 3030303030303030 R12: 0000000000000000
 kernel: R13: ffff9eb3c5de9e00 R14: ffffabde81553cc8 R15: ffff9eb404c53000
 kernel: FS:  00007f2a77a3ad00(0000) GS:ffff9eb43bd00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 kernel: CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 kernel: CR2: 0000000000001030 CR3: 00000001122ab000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): making interface the new active one
 kernel: Call Trace:
 kernel:  <TASK>
 kernel:  ? __die+0x1f/0x60
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): bond_ipsec_add_sa_all: failed to add SA
 kernel:  ? page_fault_oops+0x142/0x4c0
 kernel:  ? do_user_addr_fault+0x65/0x670
 kernel:  ? kvm_read_and_reset_apf_flags+0x3b/0x50
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): making interface the new active one
 kernel:  ? exc_page_fault+0x7b/0x180
 kernel:  ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30
 kernel:  ? nsim_bpf_uninit+0x50/0x50 [netdevsim]
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): bond_ipsec_add_sa_all: failed to add SA
 kernel:  ? nsim_ipsec_offload_ok+0xc/0x20 [netdevsim]
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): making interface the new active one
 kernel:  bond_ipsec_offload_ok+0x7b/0x90 [bonding]
 kernel:  xfrm_output+0x61/0x3b0
 kernel: bond0: (slave eni0np1): bond_ipsec_add_sa_all: failed to add SA
 kernel:  ip_push_pending_frames+0x56/0x80

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-44989?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-44989?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-44989 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-44989 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-2024-44989 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-44989 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Sep 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-2024-44989 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-2024-44989/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44989/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-44989
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-44989
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-44989

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44989/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.