# CVE-2024-50145: octeon_ep: Add SKB allocation failures handling in __octep_oq_process_rx()

> A missing null check in the Octeon Ethernet driver causes a kernel crash when memory allocation fails during packet processing.

- **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:** 7 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-53391, BELL-CVE-2024-50145, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50145, GHSA-f575-f7mf-jmpq, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50145

## What is CVE-2024-50145?

CVE-2024-50145 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Nov 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:

octeon_ep: Add SKB allocation failures handling in __octep_oq_process_rx()

build_skb() returns NULL in case of a memory allocation failure so handle
it inside __octep_oq_process_rx() to avoid NULL pointer dereference.

__octep_oq_process_rx() is called during NAPI polling by the driver. If
skb allocation fails, keep on pulling packets out of the Rx DMA queue: we
shouldn't break the polling immediately and thus falsely indicate to the
octep_napi_poll() that the Rx pressure is going down. As there is no
associated skb in this case, don't process the packets and don't push them
up the network stack - they are skipped.

Helper function is implemented to unmmap/flush all the fragment buffers
used by the dropped packet. 'alloc_failures' counter is incremented to
mark the skb allocation error in driver statistics.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50145?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-50145?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-50145 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50145 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-2024-50145 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-50145 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Nov 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-2024-50145 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-2024-50145/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50145/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-50145
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50145
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-50145

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50145/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.