# CVE-2024-49949: net: avoid potential underflow in qdisc_pkt_len_init() with UFO

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash via a crafted GSO packet, leading to denial of service in the Linux kernel network stack.

- **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:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-52628, BELL-CVE-2024-49949, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-49949, GHSA-4x74-8q36-fc3h, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-49949

## What is CVE-2024-49949?

CVE-2024-49949 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:

net: avoid potential underflow in qdisc_pkt_len_init() with UFO

After commit 7c6d2ecbda83 ("net: be more gentle about silly gso
requests coming from user") virtio_net_hdr_to_skb() had sanity check
to detect malicious attempts from user space to cook a bad GSO packet.

Then commit cf9acc90c80ec ("net: virtio_net_hdr_to_skb: count
transport header in UFO") while fixing one issue, allowed user space
to cook a GSO packet with the following characteristic :

IPv4 SKB_GSO_UDP, gso_size=3, skb->len = 28.

When this packet arrives in qdisc_pkt_len_init(), we end up
with hdr_len = 28 (IPv4 header + UDP header), matching skb->len

Then the following sets gso_segs to 0 :

gso_segs = DIV_ROUND_UP(skb->len - hdr_len,
                        shinfo->gso_size);

Then later we set qdisc_skb_cb(skb)->pkt_len to back to zero :/

qdisc_skb_cb(skb)->pkt_len += (gso_segs - 1) * hdr_len;

This leads to the following crash in fq_codel [1]

qdisc_pkt_len_init() is best effort, we only want an estimation
of the bytes sent on the wire, not crashing the kernel.

This patch is fixing this particular issue, a following one
adds more sanity checks for another potential bug.

[1]
[   70.724101] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
[   70.724561] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
[   70.724561] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
[   70.724561] PGD 10ac61067 P4D 10ac61067 PUD 107ee2067 PMD 0
[   70.724561] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
[   70.724561] CPU: 11 UID: 0 PID: 2163 Comm: b358537762 Not tainted 6.11.0-virtme #991
[   70.724561] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
[   70.724561] RIP: 0010:fq_codel_enqueue (net/sched/sch_fq_codel.c:120 net/sched/sch_fq_codel.c:168 net/sched/sch_fq_codel.c:230) sch_fq_codel
[ 70.724561] Code: 24 08 49 c1 e1 06 44 89 7c 24 18 45 31 ed 45 31 c0 31 ff 89 44 24 14 4c 03 8b 90 01 00 00 eb 04 39 ca 73 37 4d 8b 39 83 c7 01 <49> 8b 17 49 89 11 41 8b 57 28 45 8b 5f 34 49 c7 07 00 00 00 00 49
All code
========
   0:	24 08                	and    $0x8,%al
   2:	49 c1 e1 06          	shl    $0x6,%r9
   6:	44 89 7c 24 18       	mov    %r15d,0x18(%rsp)
   b:	45 31 ed             	xor    %r13d,%r13d
   e:	45 31 c0             	xor    %r8d,%r8d
  11:	31 ff                	xor    %edi,%edi
  13:	89 44 24 14          	mov    %eax,0x14(%rsp)
  17:	4c 03 8b 90 01 00 00 	add    0x190(%rbx),%r9
  1e:	eb 04                	jmp    0x24
  20:	39 ca                	cmp    %ecx,%edx
  22:	73 37                	jae    0x5b
  24:	4d 8b 39             	mov    (%r9),%r15
  27:	83 c7 01             	add    $0x1,%edi
  2a:*	49 8b 17             	mov    (%r15),%rdx		<-- trapping instruction
  2d:	49 89 11             	mov    %rdx,(%r9)
  30:	41 8b 57 28          	mov    0x28(%r15),%edx
  34:	45 8b 5f 34          	mov    0x34(%r15),%r11d
  38:	49 c7 07 00 00 00 00 	movq   $0x0,(%r15)
  3f:	49                   	rex.WB

Code starting with the faulting instruction
===========================================
   0:	49 8b 17             	mov    (%r15),%rdx
   3:	49 89 11             	mov    %rdx,(%r9)
   6:	41 8b 57 28          	mov    0x28(%r15),%edx
   a:	45 8b 5f 34          	mov    0x34(%r15),%r11d
   e:	49 c7 07 00 00 00 00 	movq   $0x0,(%r15)
  15:	49                   	rex.WB
[   70.724561] RSP: 0018:ffff95ae85e6fb90 EFLAGS: 00000202
[   70.724561] RAX: 0000000002000000 RBX: ffff95ae841de000 RCX: 0000000000000000
[   70.724561] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: 0000000000000001
[   70.724561] RBP: ffff95ae85e6fbf8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff95b710a30000
[   70.724561] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: bdf289445ce31881 R12: ffff95ae85e6fc58
[   70.724561] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000040 R15: 0000000000000000
[   70.724561] FS:  000000002c5c1380(0000) GS:ffff95bd7fcc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[   70.724561] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 C
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-49949?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-49949?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-49949 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49949 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-2024-49949 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-49949 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-2024-49949 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-2024-49949/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49949/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-49949
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49949
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-49949

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49949/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.