# CVE-2024-46678: bonding: change ipsec_lock from spin lock to mutex

> A locking bug in the Linux kernel bonding driver causes a system crash when changing the active slave on a bond with IPsec enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 13 Sep 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-49590, BELL-CVE-2024-46678, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-46678, GHSA-2mh2-9xm5-m59q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-46678, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-46678, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-46678, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-46678

## What is CVE-2024-46678?

CVE-2024-46678 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 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: change ipsec_lock from spin lock to mutex

In the cited commit, bond->ipsec_lock is added to protect ipsec_list,
hence xdo_dev_state_add and xdo_dev_state_delete are called inside
this lock. As ipsec_lock is a spin lock and such xfrmdev ops may sleep,
"scheduling while atomic" will be triggered when changing bond's
active slave.

[  101.055189] BUG: scheduling while atomic: bash/902/0x00000200
[  101.055726] Modules linked in:
[  101.058211] CPU: 3 PID: 902 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.9.0-rc4+ #1
[  101.058760] Hardware name:
[  101.059434] Call Trace:
[  101.059436]  <TASK>
[  101.060873]  dump_stack_lvl+0x51/0x60
[  101.061275]  __schedule_bug+0x4e/0x60
[  101.061682]  __schedule+0x612/0x7c0
[  101.062078]  ? __mod_timer+0x25c/0x370
[  101.062486]  schedule+0x25/0xd0
[  101.062845]  schedule_timeout+0x77/0xf0
[  101.063265]  ? asm_common_interrupt+0x22/0x40
[  101.063724]  ? __bpf_trace_itimer_state+0x10/0x10
[  101.064215]  __wait_for_common+0x87/0x190
[  101.064648]  ? usleep_range_state+0x90/0x90
[  101.065091]  cmd_exec+0x437/0xb20 [mlx5_core]
[  101.065569]  mlx5_cmd_do+0x1e/0x40 [mlx5_core]
[  101.066051]  mlx5_cmd_exec+0x18/0x30 [mlx5_core]
[  101.066552]  mlx5_crypto_create_dek_key+0xea/0x120 [mlx5_core]
[  101.067163]  ? bonding_sysfs_store_option+0x4d/0x80 [bonding]
[  101.067738]  ? kmalloc_trace+0x4d/0x350
[  101.068156]  mlx5_ipsec_create_sa_ctx+0x33/0x100 [mlx5_core]
[  101.068747]  mlx5e_xfrm_add_state+0x47b/0xaa0 [mlx5_core]
[  101.069312]  bond_change_active_slave+0x392/0x900 [bonding]
[  101.069868]  bond_option_active_slave_set+0x1c2/0x240 [bonding]
[  101.070454]  __bond_opt_set+0xa6/0x430 [bonding]
[  101.070935]  __bond_opt_set_notify+0x2f/0x90 [bonding]
[  101.071453]  bond_opt_tryset_rtnl+0x72/0xb0 [bonding]
[  101.071965]  bonding_sysfs_store_option+0x4d/0x80 [bonding]
[  101.072567]  kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x10c/0x1a0
[  101.073033]  vfs_write+0x2d8/0x400
[  101.073416]  ? alloc_fd+0x48/0x180
[  101.073798]  ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0
[  101.074175]  do_syscall_64+0x52/0x110
[  101.074576]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53

As bond_ipsec_add_sa_all and bond_ipsec_del_sa_all are only called
from bond_change_active_slave, which requires holding the RTNL lock.
And bond_ipsec_add_sa and bond_ipsec_del_sa are xfrm state
xdo_dev_state_add and xdo_dev_state_delete APIs, which are in user
context. So ipsec_lock doesn't have to be spin lock, change it to
mutex, and thus the above issue can be resolved.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-46678?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-46678?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-46678 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-46678 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-2024-46678 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-46678 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 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-2024-46678 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-2024-46678/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-46678/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-46678
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-46678
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-46678

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-46678/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
