# CVE-2024-49947: net: test for not too small csum_start in virtio_net_hdr_to_skb()

> A malicious packet can trigger a kernel warning by setting an invalid checksum start offset, potentially causing a denial of service.

- **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:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-49947, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-49947, GHSA-m5m5-6fc4-ph6r, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-49947

## What is CVE-2024-49947?

CVE-2024-49947 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

net: test for not too small csum_start in virtio_net_hdr_to_skb()

syzbot was able to trigger this warning [1], after injecting a
malicious packet through af_packet, setting skb->csum_start and thus
the transport header to an incorrect value.

We can at least make sure the transport header is after
the end of the network header (with a estimated minimal size).

[1]
[   67.873027] skb len=4096 headroom=16 headlen=14 tailroom=0
mac=(-1,-1) mac_len=0 net=(16,-6) trans=10
shinfo(txflags=0 nr_frags=1 gso(size=0 type=0 segs=0))
csum(0xa start=10 offset=0 ip_summed=3 complete_sw=0 valid=0 level=0)
hash(0x0 sw=0 l4=0) proto=0x0800 pkttype=0 iif=0
priority=0x0 mark=0x0 alloc_cpu=10 vlan_all=0x0
encapsulation=0 inner(proto=0x0000, mac=0, net=0, trans=0)
[   67.877172] dev name=veth0_vlan feat=0x000061164fdd09e9
[   67.877764] sk family=17 type=3 proto=0
[   67.878279] skb linear:   00000000: 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 0f 00 00 00 08 00
[   67.879128] skb frag:     00000000: 0e 00 07 00 00 00 28 00 08 80 1c 00 04 00 00 02
[   67.879877] skb frag:     00000010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.880647] skb frag:     00000020: 00 00 02 00 00 00 08 00 1b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.881156] skb frag:     00000030: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.881753] skb frag:     00000040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.882173] skb frag:     00000050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.882790] skb frag:     00000060: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.883171] skb frag:     00000070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.883733] skb frag:     00000080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.884206] skb frag:     00000090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 69 70 76 6c 61 6e
[   67.884704] skb frag:     000000a0: 31 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 2b 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.885139] skb frag:     000000b0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.885677] skb frag:     000000c0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.886042] skb frag:     000000d0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.886408] skb frag:     000000e0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.887020] skb frag:     000000f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[   67.887384] skb frag:     00000100: 00 00
[   67.887878] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[   67.887908] offset (-6) >= skb_headlen() (14)
[   67.888445] WARNING: CPU: 10 PID: 2088 at net/core/dev.c:3332 skb_checksum_help (net/core/dev.c:3332 (discriminator 2))
[   67.889353] Modules linked in: macsec macvtap macvlan hsr wireguard curve25519_x86_64 libcurve25519_generic libchacha20poly1305 chacha_x86_64 libchacha poly1305_x86_64 dummy bridge sr_mod cdrom evdev pcspkr i2c_piix4 9pnet_virtio 9p 9pnet netfs
[   67.890111] CPU: 10 UID: 0 PID: 2088 Comm: b363492833 Not tainted 6.11.0-virtme #1011
[   67.890183] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
[   67.890309] RIP: 0010:skb_checksum_help (net/core/dev.c:3332 (discriminator 2))
[   67.891043] Call Trace:
[   67.891173]  <TASK>
[   67.891274] ? __warn (kernel/panic.c:741)
[   67.891320] ? skb_checksum_help (net/core/dev.c:3332 (discriminator 2))
[   67.891333] ? report_bug (lib/bug.c:180 lib/bug.c:219)
[   67.891348] ? handle_bug (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:239)
[   67.891363] ? exc_invalid_op (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:260 (discriminator 1))
[   67.891372] ? asm_exc_invalid_op (./arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:621)
[   67.891388] ? skb_checksum_help (net/core/dev.c:3332 (discriminator 2))
[   67.891399] ? skb_checksum_help (net/core/dev.c:3332 (discriminator 2))
[   67.891416] ip_do_fragment (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:777 (discriminator 1))
[   67.891448] ? __ip_local_out (./include/linux/skbuff.h:1146 ./include/net/l3mdev.h:196 ./include/net/l3mdev.h:213 ne
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-49947?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-49947?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-49947 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49947 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-2024-49947 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-49947 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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-2024-49947 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-2024-49947/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49947/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-49947
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49947
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-49947

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49947/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
