# CVE-2024-56770: net/sched: netem: account for backlog updates from child qdisc > A logic error in the Linux kernel netem qdisc causes incorrect backlog accounting, leading to packet drops and network denial of service when specific traffic shaping configurations are used. - **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:** 8 Jan 2025 - **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-55428, AZL-55431, BELL-CVE-2024-56770, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56770, GHSA-m7p9-xw5x-w2c4, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56770 ## What is CVE-2024-56770? CVE-2024-56770 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 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: net/sched: netem: account for backlog updates from child qdisc In general, 'qlen' of any classful qdisc should keep track of the number of packets that the qdisc itself and all of its children holds. In case of netem, 'qlen' only accounts for the packets in its internal tfifo. When netem is used with a child qdisc, the child qdisc can use 'qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog' to inform its parent, netem, about created or dropped SKBs. This function updates 'qlen' and the backlog statistics of netem, but netem does not account for changes made by a child qdisc. 'qlen' then indicates the wrong number of packets in the tfifo. If a child qdisc creates new SKBs during enqueue and informs its parent about this, netem's 'qlen' value is increased. When netem dequeues the newly created SKBs from the child, the 'qlen' in netem is not updated. If 'qlen' reaches the configured sch->limit, the enqueue function stops working, even though the tfifo is not full. Reproduce the bug: Ensure that the sender machine has GSO enabled. Configure netem as root qdisc and tbf as its child on the outgoing interface of the machine as follows: $ tc qdisc add dev root handle 1: netem delay 100ms limit 100 $ tc qdisc add dev parent 1:0 tbf rate 50Mbit burst 1542 latency 50ms Send bulk TCP traffic out via this interface, e.g., by running an iPerf3 client on the machine. Check the qdisc statistics: $ tc -s qdisc show dev Statistics after 10s of iPerf3 TCP test before the fix (note that netem's backlog > limit, netem stopped accepting packets): qdisc netem 1: root refcnt 2 limit 1000 delay 100ms Sent 2767766 bytes 1848 pkt (dropped 652, overlimits 0 requeues 0) backlog 4294528236b 1155p requeues 0 qdisc tbf 10: parent 1:1 rate 50Mbit burst 1537b lat 50ms Sent 2767766 bytes 1848 pkt (dropped 327, overlimits 7601 requeues 0) backlog 0b 0p requeues 0 Statistics after the fix: qdisc netem 1: root refcnt 2 limit 1000 delay 100ms Sent 37766372 bytes 24974 pkt (dropped 9, overlimits 0 requeues 0) backlog 0b 0p requeues 0 qdisc tbf 10: parent 1:1 rate 50Mbit burst 1537b lat 50ms Sent 37766372 bytes 24974 pkt (dropped 327, overlimits 96017 requeues 0) backlog 0b 0p requeues 0 tbf segments the GSO SKBs (tbf_segment) and updates the netem's 'qlen'. The interface fully stops transferring packets and "locks". In this case, the child qdisc and tfifo are empty, but 'qlen' indicates the tfifo is at its limit and no more packets are accepted. This patch adds a counter for the entries in the tfifo. Netem's 'qlen' is only decreased when a packet is returned by its dequeue function, and not during enqueuing into the child qdisc. External updates to 'qlen' are thus accounted for and only the behavior of the backlog statistics changes. As in other qdiscs, 'qlen' then keeps track of how many packets are held in netem and all of its children. As before, sch->limit remains as the maximum number of packets in the tfifo. The same applies to netem's backlog statistics. ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56770? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2024-56770? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2024-56770 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56770 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-2024-56770 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2024-56770 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 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-2024-56770 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-2024-56770/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56770/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56770 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56770 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56770 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56770/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.