# CVE-2024-54031: netfilter: nft_set_hash: unaligned atomic read on struct nft_set_ext

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash via unaligned atomic reads in the netfilter hash set garbage collection routine.

- **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:** 15 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-54031, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-54031, GHSA-3cpc-x5c2-65qq, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-54031

## What is CVE-2024-54031?

CVE-2024-54031 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Jan 2025. 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:

netfilter: nft_set_hash: unaligned atomic read on struct nft_set_ext

Access to genmask field in struct nft_set_ext results in unaligned
atomic read:

[   72.130109] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff0000c2bb708c
[   72.131036] Mem abort info:
[   72.131213]   ESR = 0x0000000096000021
[   72.131446]   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[   72.132209]   SET = 0, FnV = 0
[   72.133216]   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[   72.134080]   FSC = 0x21: alignment fault
[   72.135593] Data abort info:
[   72.137194]   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000021, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[   72.142351]   CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[   72.145989]   GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[   72.150115] swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000237d27000
[   72.154893] [ffff0000c2bb708c] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=180000023ffff403, pud=180000023f84b403, pmd=180000023f835403,
+pte=0068000102bb7707
[   72.163021] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000021 [#1] SMP
[...]
[   72.170041] CPU: 7 UID: 0 PID: 54 Comm: kworker/7:0 Tainted: G            E      6.13.0-rc3+ #2
[   72.170509] Tainted: [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
[   72.170720] Hardware name: QEMU QEMU Virtual Machine, BIOS edk2-stable202302-for-qemu 03/01/2023
[   72.171192] Workqueue: events_power_efficient nft_rhash_gc [nf_tables]
[   72.171552] pstate: 21400005 (nzCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[   72.171915] pc : nft_rhash_gc+0x200/0x2d8 [nf_tables]
[   72.172166] lr : nft_rhash_gc+0x128/0x2d8 [nf_tables]
[   72.172546] sp : ffff800081f2bce0
[   72.172724] x29: ffff800081f2bd40 x28: ffff0000c2bb708c x27: 0000000000000038
[   72.173078] x26: ffff0000c6780ef0 x25: ffff0000c643df00 x24: ffff0000c6778f78
[   72.173431] x23: 000000000000001a x22: ffff0000c4b1f000 x21: ffff0000c6780f78
[   72.173782] x20: ffff0000c2bb70dc x19: ffff0000c2bb7080 x18: 0000000000000000
[   72.174135] x17: ffff0000c0a4e1c0 x16: 0000000000003000 x15: 0000ac26d173b978
[   72.174485] x14: ffffffffffffffff x13: 0000000000000030 x12: ffff0000c6780ef0
[   72.174841] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: ffff800081f2bcf8 x9 : ffff0000c3000000
[   72.175193] x8 : 00000000000004be x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
[   72.175544] x5 : 0000000000000040 x4 : ffff0000c3000010 x3 : 0000000000000000
[   72.175871] x2 : 0000000000003a98 x1 : ffff0000c2bb708c x0 : 0000000000000004
[   72.176207] Call trace:
[   72.176316]  nft_rhash_gc+0x200/0x2d8 [nf_tables] (P)
[   72.176653]  process_one_work+0x178/0x3d0
[   72.176831]  worker_thread+0x200/0x3f0
[   72.176995]  kthread+0xe8/0xf8
[   72.177130]  ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
[   72.177289] Code: 54fff984 d503201f d2800080 91003261 (f820303f)
[   72.177557] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

Align struct nft_set_ext to word size to address this and
documentation it.

pahole reports that this increases the size of elements for rhash and
pipapo in 8 bytes on x86_64.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-54031?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-54031?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-54031 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-54031 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-2024-54031 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-54031 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Jan 2025. 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-2024-54031 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-2024-54031/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-54031/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-54031
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-54031
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-54031

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-54031/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
