# CVE-2024-49997: net: ethernet: lantiq_etop: fix memory disclosure

> An attacker can observe uninitialized memory contents on the network wire due to improper padding in the Lantiq Ethernet driver.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-51834, BELL-CVE-2024-49997, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-49997, GHSA-9xrj-2966-hg7q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-49997, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-49997

## What is CVE-2024-49997?

CVE-2024-49997 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: ethernet: lantiq_etop: fix memory disclosure

When applying padding, the buffer is not zeroed, which results in memory
disclosure. The mentioned data is observed on the wire. This patch uses
skb_put_padto() to pad Ethernet frames properly. The mentioned function
zeroes the expanded buffer.

In case the packet cannot be padded it is silently dropped. Statistics
are also not incremented. This driver does not support statistics in the
old 32-bit format or the new 64-bit format. These will be added in the
future. In its current form, the patch should be easily backported to
stable versions.

Ethernet MACs on Amazon-SE and Danube cannot do padding of the packets
in hardware, so software padding must be applied.

Weakness: CWE-212 (Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-49997?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-49997?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-49997 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49997 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-2024-49997 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-49997 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49997 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-2024-49997/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49997/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-49997
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49997
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-49997

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49997/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.