# CVE-2024-49946: ppp: do not assume bh is held in ppp_channel_bridge_input()

> A race condition in the Linux kernel PPP driver can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service due to inconsistent lock state handling.

- **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:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-52605, BELL-CVE-2024-49946, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-49946, GHSA-jq7w-hcx7-gm2r, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-49946

## What is CVE-2024-49946?

CVE-2024-49946 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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:

ppp: do not assume bh is held in ppp_channel_bridge_input()

Networking receive path is usually handled from BH handler.
However, some protocols need to acquire the socket lock, and
packets might be stored in the socket backlog is the socket was
owned by a user process.

In this case, release_sock(), __release_sock(), and sk_backlog_rcv()
might call the sk->sk_backlog_rcv() handler in process context.

sybot caught ppp was not considering this case in
ppp_channel_bridge_input() :

WARNING: inconsistent lock state
6.11.0-rc7-syzkaller-g5f5673607153 #0 Not tainted
--------------------------------
inconsistent {SOFTIRQ-ON-W} -> {IN-SOFTIRQ-W} usage.
ksoftirqd/1/24 [HC0[0]:SC1[1]:HE1:SE0] takes:
 ffff0000db7f11e0 (&pch->downl){+.?.}-{2:2}, at: spin_lock include/linux/spinlock.h:351 [inline]
 ffff0000db7f11e0 (&pch->downl){+.?.}-{2:2}, at: ppp_channel_bridge_input drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c:2272 [inline]
 ffff0000db7f11e0 (&pch->downl){+.?.}-{2:2}, at: ppp_input+0x16c/0x854 drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c:2304
{SOFTIRQ-ON-W} state was registered at:
   lock_acquire+0x240/0x728 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5759
   __raw_spin_lock include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:133 [inline]
   _raw_spin_lock+0x48/0x60 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:154
   spin_lock include/linux/spinlock.h:351 [inline]
   ppp_channel_bridge_input drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c:2272 [inline]
   ppp_input+0x16c/0x854 drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c:2304
   pppoe_rcv_core+0xfc/0x314 drivers/net/ppp/pppoe.c:379
   sk_backlog_rcv include/net/sock.h:1111 [inline]
   __release_sock+0x1a8/0x3d8 net/core/sock.c:3004
   release_sock+0x68/0x1b8 net/core/sock.c:3558
   pppoe_sendmsg+0xc8/0x5d8 drivers/net/ppp/pppoe.c:903
   sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline]
   __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:745 [inline]
   __sys_sendto+0x374/0x4f4 net/socket.c:2204
   __do_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2216 [inline]
   __se_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2212 [inline]
   __arm64_sys_sendto+0xd8/0xf8 net/socket.c:2212
   __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]
   invoke_syscall+0x98/0x2b8 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49
   el0_svc_common+0x130/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:132
   do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:151
   el0_svc+0x54/0x168 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:712
   el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0xfc arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:730
   el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:598
irq event stamp: 282914
 hardirqs last  enabled at (282914): [<ffff80008b42e30c>] __raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:151 [inline]
 hardirqs last  enabled at (282914): [<ffff80008b42e30c>] _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x38/0x98 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194
 hardirqs last disabled at (282913): [<ffff80008b42e13c>] __raw_spin_lock_irqsave include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:108 [inline]
 hardirqs last disabled at (282913): [<ffff80008b42e13c>] _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x2c/0x7c kernel/locking/spinlock.c:162
 softirqs last  enabled at (282904): [<ffff8000801f8e88>] softirq_handle_end kernel/softirq.c:400 [inline]
 softirqs last  enabled at (282904): [<ffff8000801f8e88>] handle_softirqs+0xa3c/0xbfc kernel/softirq.c:582
 softirqs last disabled at (282909): [<ffff8000801fbdf8>] run_ksoftirqd+0x70/0x158 kernel/softirq.c:928

other info that might help us debug this:
 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0
       ----
  lock(&pch->downl);
  <Interrupt>
    lock(&pch->downl);

 *** DEADLOCK ***

1 lock held by ksoftirqd/1/24:
  #0: ffff80008f74dfa0 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:2}, at: rcu_lock_acquire+0x10/0x4c include/linux/rcupdate.h:325

stack backtrace:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 24 Comm: ksoftirqd/1 Not tainted 6.11.0-rc7-syzkaller-g5f5673607153 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/06/2024
Call trace:
  dump_backtrace+0x1b8/0x1e4 arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:319
  show_stack+0x2c/0x3c arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:326
  __dump_sta
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-49946?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-49946?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-49946 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49946 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-2024-49946 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-49946 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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-2024-49946 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-2024-49946/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49946/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-49946
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49946
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-49946

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49946/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
