# CVE-2024-56661: tipc: fix NULL deref in cleanup_bearer()

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's TIPC module allows local attackers to cause a system crash via a general protection fault.

- **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:** 27 Dec 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-56661, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56661, GHSA-4g6f-5r4h-c449, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56661

## What is CVE-2024-56661?

CVE-2024-56661 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Dec 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:

tipc: fix NULL deref in cleanup_bearer()

syzbot found [1] that after blamed commit, ub->ubsock->sk
was NULL when attempting the atomic_dec() :

atomic_dec(&tipc_net(sock_net(ub->ubsock->sk))->wq_count);

Fix this by caching the tipc_net pointer.

[1]

Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000006: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000030-0x0000000000000037]
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5896 Comm: kworker/0:3 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc1-next-20241203-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024
Workqueue: events cleanup_bearer
 RIP: 0010:read_pnet include/net/net_namespace.h:387 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:sock_net include/net/sock.h:655 [inline]
 RIP: 0010:cleanup_bearer+0x1f7/0x280 net/tipc/udp_media.c:820
Code: 18 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 42 80 3c 28 00 74 08 48 89 df e8 3c f7 99 f6 48 8b 1b 48 83 c3 30 e8 f0 e4 60 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 80 3c 28 00 74 08 48 89 df e8 1a f7 99 f6 49 83 c7 e8 48 8b 1b
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000410fb70 EFLAGS: 00010206
RAX: 0000000000000006 RBX: 0000000000000030 RCX: ffff88802fe45a00
RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffffc9000410f900
RBP: ffff88807e1f0908 R08: ffffc9000410f907 R09: 1ffff92000821f20
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffff52000821f21 R12: ffff888031d19980
R13: dffffc0000000000 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffff88807e1f0918
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b8600000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000556ca050b000 CR3: 0000000031c0c000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56661?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-56661?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-56661 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56661 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-2024-56661 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-56661 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Dec 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-2024-56661 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-2024-56661/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56661/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56661
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56661
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56661

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56661/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.