# CVE-2024-50045: netfilter: br_netfilter: fix panic with metadata_dst skb

> A local attacker can cause a kernel panic by sending oversized untagged frames through a VxLAN bridge port when specific netfilter settings are enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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-51210, AZL-51252, BELL-CVE-2024-50045, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50045, GHSA-5hwh-9gc5-fwwg, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50045

## What is CVE-2024-50045?

CVE-2024-50045 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:

netfilter: br_netfilter: fix panic with metadata_dst skb

Fix a kernel panic in the br_netfilter module when sending untagged
traffic via a VxLAN device.
This happens during the check for fragmentation in br_nf_dev_queue_xmit.

It is dependent on:
1) the br_netfilter module being loaded;
2) net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables set to 1;
3) a bridge with a VxLAN (single-vxlan-device) netdevice as a bridge port;
4) untagged frames with size higher than the VxLAN MTU forwarded/flooded

When forwarding the untagged packet to the VxLAN bridge port, before
the netfilter hooks are called, br_handle_egress_vlan_tunnel is called and
changes the skb_dst to the tunnel dst. The tunnel_dst is a metadata type
of dst, i.e., skb_valid_dst(skb) is false, and metadata->dst.dev is NULL.

Then in the br_netfilter hooks, in br_nf_dev_queue_xmit, there's a check
for frames that needs to be fragmented: frames with higher MTU than the
VxLAN device end up calling br_nf_ip_fragment, which in turns call
ip_skb_dst_mtu.

The ip_dst_mtu tries to use the skb_dst(skb) as if it was a valid dst
with valid dst->dev, thus the crash.

This case was never supported in the first place, so drop the packet
instead.

PING 10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2) from 0.0.0.0 h1-eth0: 2000(2028) bytes of data.
[  176.291791] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at
virtual address 0000000000000110
[  176.292101] Mem abort info:
[  176.292184]   ESR = 0x0000000096000004
[  176.292322]   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[  176.292530]   SET = 0, FnV = 0
[  176.292709]   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[  176.292862]   FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault
[  176.293013] Data abort info:
[  176.293104]   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[  176.293488]   CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[  176.293787]   GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[  176.293995] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000043ef5000
[  176.294166] [0000000000000110] pgd=0000000000000000,
p4d=0000000000000000
[  176.294827] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
[  176.295252] Modules linked in: vxlan ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel veth
br_netfilter bridge stp llc ipv6 crct10dif_ce
[  176.295923] CPU: 0 PID: 188 Comm: ping Not tainted
6.8.0-rc3-g5b3fbd61b9d1 #2
[  176.296314] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
[  176.296535] pstate: 80000005 (Nzcv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS
BTYPE=--)
[  176.296808] pc : br_nf_dev_queue_xmit+0x390/0x4ec [br_netfilter]
[  176.297382] lr : br_nf_dev_queue_xmit+0x2ac/0x4ec [br_netfilter]
[  176.297636] sp : ffff800080003630
[  176.297743] x29: ffff800080003630 x28: 0000000000000008 x27:
ffff6828c49ad9f8
[  176.298093] x26: ffff6828c49ad000 x25: 0000000000000000 x24:
00000000000003e8
[  176.298430] x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffff6828c4960b40 x21:
ffff6828c3b16d28
[  176.298652] x20: ffff6828c3167048 x19: ffff6828c3b16d00 x18:
0000000000000014
[  176.298926] x17: ffffb0476322f000 x16: ffffb7e164023730 x15:
0000000095744632
[  176.299296] x14: ffff6828c3f1c880 x13: 0000000000000002 x12:
ffffb7e137926a70
[  176.299574] x11: 0000000000000001 x10: ffff6828c3f1c898 x9 :
0000000000000000
[  176.300049] x8 : ffff6828c49bf070 x7 : 0008460f18d5f20e x6 :
f20e0100bebafeca
[  176.300302] x5 : ffff6828c7f918fe x4 : ffff6828c49bf070 x3 :
0000000000000000
[  176.300586] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : ffff6828c3c7ad00 x0 :
ffff6828c7f918f0
[  176.300889] Call trace:
[  176.301123]  br_nf_dev_queue_xmit+0x390/0x4ec [br_netfilter]
[  176.301411]  br_nf_post_routing+0x2a8/0x3e4 [br_netfilter]
[  176.301703]  nf_hook_slow+0x48/0x124
[  176.302060]  br_forward_finish+0xc8/0xe8 [bridge]
[  176.302371]  br_nf_hook_thresh+0x124/0x134 [br_netfilter]
[  176.302605]  br_nf_forward_finish+0x118/0x22c [br_netfilter]
[  176.302824]  br_nf_forward_ip.part.0+0x264/0x290 [br_netfilter]
[  176.303136]  br_nf_forward+0x2b8/0x4e0 [br_netfilter]
[  176.303359]  nf_hook_slow+0x48/0x124
[  176.303
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50045?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-50045?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-50045 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50045 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-2024-50045 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-50045 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-2024-50045 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-2024-50045/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50045/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-50045
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50045
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-50045

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50045/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
