CVE-2024-57981 usb: xhci: Fix NULL pointer dereference on certain command aborts
A local attacker with physical access can cause a kernel crash by triggering a specific USB command abort sequence in the xHCI driver.
- 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
What is CVE-2024-57981?
CVE-2024-57981 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 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:
usb: xhci: Fix NULL pointer dereference on certain command aborts
If a command is queued to the final usable TRB of a ring segment, the enqueue pointer is advanced to the subsequent link TRB and no further. If the command is later aborted, when the abort completion is handled the dequeue pointer is advanced to the first TRB of the next segment.
If no further commands are queued, xhci_handle_stopped_cmd_ring() sees the ring pointers unequal and assumes that there is a pending command, so it calls xhci_mod_cmd_timer() which crashes if cur_cmd was NULL.
Don't attempt timer setup if cur_cmd is NULL. The subsequent doorbell ring likely is unnecessary too, but it's harmless. Leave it alone.
This is probably Bug 219532, but no confirmation has been received.
The issue has been independently reproduced and confirmed fixed using a USB MCU programmed to NAK the Status stage of SET_ADDRESS forever. Everything continued working normally after several prevented crashes.
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-57981?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2024-57981?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2024-57981 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-57981 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-58021, BELL-CVE-2024-57981, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-57981, GHSA-mq27-r9q4-8847, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2024-57981, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-57981.