# CVE-2024-56751: ipv6: release nexthop on device removal

> A reference counting bug in the Linux kernel IPv6 stack causes a hang during device removal, leading to a denial of service.

- **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:** 29 Dec 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-54764, AZL-54854, BELL-CVE-2024-56751, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56751, GHSA-4fc4-p432-gw7h, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-56751, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56751

## What is CVE-2024-56751?

CVE-2024-56751 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 29 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:

ipv6: release nexthop on device removal

The CI is hitting some aperiodic hangup at device removal time in the
pmtu.sh self-test:

unregister_netdevice: waiting for veth_A-R1 to become free. Usage count = 6
ref_tracker: veth_A-R1@ffff888013df15d8 has 1/5 users at
	dst_init+0x84/0x4a0
	dst_alloc+0x97/0x150
	ip6_dst_alloc+0x23/0x90
	ip6_rt_pcpu_alloc+0x1e6/0x520
	ip6_pol_route+0x56f/0x840
	fib6_rule_lookup+0x334/0x630
	ip6_route_output_flags+0x259/0x480
	ip6_dst_lookup_tail.constprop.0+0x5c2/0x940
	ip6_dst_lookup_flow+0x88/0x190
	udp_tunnel6_dst_lookup+0x2a7/0x4c0
	vxlan_xmit_one+0xbde/0x4a50 [vxlan]
	vxlan_xmit+0x9ad/0xf20 [vxlan]
	dev_hard_start_xmit+0x10e/0x360
	__dev_queue_xmit+0xf95/0x18c0
	arp_solicit+0x4a2/0xe00
	neigh_probe+0xaa/0xf0

While the first suspect is the dst_cache, explicitly tracking the dst
owing the last device reference via probes proved such dst is held by
the nexthop in the originating fib6_info.

Similar to commit f5b51fe804ec ("ipv6: route: purge exception on
removal"), we need to explicitly release the originating fib info when
disconnecting a to-be-removed device from a live ipv6 dst: move the
fib6_info cleanup into ip6_dst_ifdown().

Tested running:

./pmtu.sh cleanup_ipv6_exception

in a tight loop for more than 400 iterations with no spat, running an
unpatched kernel  I observed a splat every ~10 iterations.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56751?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-56751?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-56751 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56751 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-2024-56751 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-56751 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 29 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-2024-56751 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-2024-56751/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56751/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56751
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56751
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56751

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56751/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.