# CVE-2024-57924: fs: relax assertions on failure to encode file handles

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel assertion failure via specific filesystem operations, causing 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:** 19 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-67842, BELL-CVE-2024-57924, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-57924, GHSA-f344-cfpj-cvmx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-57924, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-57924, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-57924, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-57924

## What is CVE-2024-57924?

CVE-2024-57924 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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:

fs: relax assertions on failure to encode file handles

Encoding file handles is usually performed by a filesystem >encode_fh()
method that may fail for various reasons.

The legacy users of exportfs_encode_fh(), namely, nfsd and
name_to_handle_at(2) syscall are ready to cope with the possibility
of failure to encode a file handle.

There are a few other users of exportfs_encode_{fh,fid}() that
currently have a WARN_ON() assertion when ->encode_fh() fails.
Relax those assertions because they are wrong.

The second linked bug report states commit 16aac5ad1fa9 ("ovl: support
encoding non-decodable file handles") in v6.6 as the regressing commit,
but this is not accurate.

The aforementioned commit only increases the chances of the assertion
and allows triggering the assertion with the reproducer using overlayfs,
inotify and drop_caches.

Triggering this assertion was always possible with other filesystems and
other reasons of ->encode_fh() failures and more particularly, it was
also possible with the exact same reproducer using overlayfs that is
mounted with options index=on,nfs_export=on also on kernels < v6.6.
Therefore, I am not listing the aforementioned commit as a Fixes commit.

Backport hint: this patch will have a trivial conflict applying to
v6.6.y, and other trivial conflicts applying to stable kernels < v6.6.

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-57924?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-57924?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-57924 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-57924 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-2024-57924 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-57924 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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-2024-57924 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-2024-57924/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57924/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-57924
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-57924
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-57924

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57924/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
