Linux Kernel up to 6.9.2 ecryptfs write_tag_66_packet buffer overflow

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7.7	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.9.2. Affected is the function write_tag_66_packet of the component ecryptfs. The manipulation results in buffer overflow. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2024-38578. There is no exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.9.2. Affected is the function write_tag_66_packet of the component ecryptfs. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ecryptfs: Fix buffer size for tag 66 packet The 'TAG 66 Packet Format' description is missing the cipher code and checksum fields that are packed into the message packet. As a result, the buffer allocated for the packet is 3 bytes too small and write_tag_66_packet() will write up to 3 bytes past the end of the buffer. Fix this by increasing the size of the allocation so the whole packet will always fit in the buffer. This fixes the below kasan slab-out-of-bounds bug: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x7d6/0xde0 Write of size 1 at addr ffff88800afbb2a5 by task touch/181 CPU: 0 PID: 181 Comm: touch Not tainted 6.6.13-gnu #1 4c9534092be820851bb687b82d1f92a426598dc6 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2/GNU Guix 04/01/2014 Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x4c/0x70 print_report+0xc5/0x610 ? ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x7d6/0xde0 ? kasan_complete_mode_report_info+0x44/0x210 ? ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x7d6/0xde0 kasan_report+0xc2/0x110 ? ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x7d6/0xde0 __asan_store1+0x62/0x80 ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x7d6/0xde0 ? __pfx_ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x10/0x10 ? __alloc_pages+0x2e2/0x540 ? __pfx_ovl_open+0x10/0x10 [overlay 30837f11141636a8e1793533a02e6e2e885dad1d] ? dentry_open+0x8f/0xd0 ecryptfs_write_metadata+0x30a/0x550 ? __pfx_ecryptfs_write_metadata+0x10/0x10 ? ecryptfs_get_lower_file+0x6b/0x190 ecryptfs_initialize_file+0x77/0x150 ecryptfs_create+0x1c2/0x2f0 path_openat+0x17cf/0x1ba0 ? __pfx_path_openat+0x10/0x10 do_filp_open+0x15e/0x290 ? __pfx_do_filp_open+0x10/0x10 ? __kasan_check_write+0x18/0x30 ? _raw_spin_lock+0x86/0xf0 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 ? __kasan_check_write+0x18/0x30 ? alloc_fd+0xf4/0x330 do_sys_openat2+0x122/0x160 ? __pfx_do_sys_openat2+0x10/0x10 __x64_sys_openat+0xef/0x170 ? __pfx___x64_sys_openat+0x10/0x10 do_syscall_64+0x60/0xd0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 RIP: 0033:0x7f00a703fd67 Code: 25 00 00 41 00 3d 00 00 41 00 74 37 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 5b 44 89 e2 48 89 ee bf 9c ff ff ff b8 01 01 00 00 0f 05 3d 00 f0 ff ff 0f 87 85 00 00 00 48 83 c4 68 5d 41 5c c3 0f 1f RSP: 002b:00007ffc088e30b0 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000101 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffc088e3368 RCX: 00007f00a703fd67 RDX: 0000000000000941 RSI: 00007ffc088e48d7 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c RBP: 00007ffc088e48d7 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 00000000000001b6 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000941 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 00007ffc088e48d7 R15: 00007f00a7180040 Allocated by task 181: kasan_save_stack+0x2f/0x60 kasan_set_track+0x29/0x40 kasan_save_alloc_info+0x25/0x40 __kasan_kmalloc+0xc5/0xd0 __kmalloc+0x66/0x160 ecryptfs_generate_key_packet_set+0x6d2/0xde0 ecryptfs_write_metadata+0x30a/0x550 ecryptfs_initialize_file+0x77/0x150 ecryptfs_create+0x1c2/0x2f0 path_openat+0x17cf/0x1ba0 do_filp_open+0x15e/0x290 do_sys_openat2+0x122/0x160 __x64_sys_openat+0xef/0x170 do_syscall_64+0x60/0xd0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2024-38578 since 06/18/2024. The exploitability is told to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/04/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 207738 (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7009-2)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.19.316, 5.4.278, 5.10.219, 5.15.161, 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12 or 6.9.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 1c125b9287e5/235b85981051/edbfc42ab080/12db25a54ce6/0d0f8ba042af/2ed750b7ae1b/a20f09452e2f/f6008487f1ee/85a6a1aff08e is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (207738) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2024-1418). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• IBM InfoSphere Guardium
• Oracle Linux
• Oracle VM
• IBM Security Guardium
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Broadcom Brocade SANnav
• Dell NetWorker
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• Dell Avamar
• IBM Storage Scale
• Juniper Junos Space
• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 4.19.315
• 5.4.277
• 5.10.218
• 5.15.160
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.1.28
• 6.1.29
• 6.1.30
• 6.1.31
• 6.1.32
• 6.1.33
• 6.1.34
• 6.1.35
• 6.1.36
• 6.1.37
• 6.1.38
• 6.1.39
• 6.1.40
• 6.1.41
• 6.1.42
• 6.1.43
• 6.1.44
• 6.1.45
• 6.1.46
• 6.1.47
• 6.1.48
• 6.1.49
• 6.1.50
• 6.1.51
• 6.1.52
• 6.1.53
• 6.1.54
• 6.1.55
• 6.1.56
• 6.1.57
• 6.1.58
• 6.1.59
• 6.1.60
• 6.1.61
• 6.1.62
• 6.1.63
• 6.1.64
• 6.1.65
• 6.1.66
• 6.1.67
• 6.1.68
• 6.1.69
• 6.1.70
• 6.1.71
• 6.1.72
• 6.1.73
• 6.1.74
• 6.1.75
• 6.1.76
• 6.1.77
• 6.1.78
• 6.1.79
• 6.1.80
• 6.1.81
• 6.1.82
• 6.1.83
• 6.1.84
• 6.1.85
• 6.1.86
• 6.1.87
• 6.1.88
• 6.1.89
• 6.1.90
• 6.1.91
• 6.1.92
• 6.6.0
• 6.6.1
• 6.6.2
• 6.6.3
• 6.6.4
• 6.6.5
• 6.6.6
• 6.6.7
• 6.6.8
• 6.6.9
• 6.6.10
• 6.6.11
• 6.6.12
• 6.6.13
• 6.6.14
• 6.6.15
• 6.6.16
• 6.6.17
• 6.6.18
• 6.6.19
• 6.6.20
• 6.6.21
• 6.6.22
• 6.6.23
• 6.6.24
• 6.6.25
• 6.6.26
• 6.6.27
• 6.6.28
• 6.6.29
• 6.6.30
• 6.6.31
• 6.6.32
• 6.8.0
• 6.8.1
• 6.8.2
• 6.8.3
• 6.8.4
• 6.8.5
• 6.8.6
• 6.8.7
• 6.8.8
• 6.8.9
• 6.8.10
• 6.8.11
• 6.9.0
• 6.9.1
• 6.9.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.7

VulDB Base Score: 8.0
VulDB Temp Score: 7.6
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 7.8
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Buffer overflow
CWE: CWE-120 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 207738
Nessus Name: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7009-2)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: Kernel 4.19.316/5.4.278/5.10.219/5.15.161/6.1.93/6.6.33/6.8.12/6.9.3
Patch: 1c125b9287e5/235b85981051/edbfc42ab080/12db25a54ce6/0d0f8ba042af/2ed750b7ae1b/a20f09452e2f/f6008487f1ee/85a6a1aff08e

Timelineinfo

06/18/2024 🔍
06/19/2024 +1 days 🔍
06/19/2024 +0 days 🔍
10/04/2025 +472 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2024-38578 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2024-38578
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-269004
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2024-1418 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen ermöglichen nicht spezifizierten Angriff

Entryinfo

Created: 06/19/2024 17:06
Updated: 10/04/2025 23:47
Changes: 06/19/2024 17:06 (58), 07/15/2024 09:53 (1), 09/30/2024 04:48 (3), 09/17/2025 23:31 (11), 10/04/2025 23:47 (7)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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