CVE Intelligence
Medium Memory corruption

CVE-2024-40960 — ipv6: prevent possible NULL dereference in rt6_probe()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: prevent possible NULL dereference in rt6_probe() syzbot caught a NULL dereference in rt6_probe() [1] Bail out if __in6_dev_get() returns NULL. [1] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000cb: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000658-0x000000000000065f] CPU: 1 PID: 22444 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.10.0-rc2-syzkaller-00383-gb8481381d4e2 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 04/02/2024 RIP: 0010:rt6_probe net/ipv6/route.c:656 [inline] RIP: 0010:find_match+0x8c4/0xf50 net/ipv6/route.c:758 Code: 14 fd f7 48 8b 85 38 ff ff ff 48 c7 45 b0 00 00 00 00 48 8d b8 5c 06 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <0f> b6 14 02 48 89 f8 83 e0 07 83 c0 03 38 d0 7c 08 84 d2 0f 85 19 RSP: 0018:ffffc900034af070 EFLAGS: 00010203 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffffc90004521000 RDX: 00000000000000cb RSI: ffffffff8990d0cd RDI: 000000000000065c RBP: ffffc900034af150 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000002 R12: 000000000000000a R13: 1ffff92000695e18 R14: ffff8880244a1d20 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f4844a5a6c0(0000) GS:ffff8880b9300000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000001b31b27000 CR3: 000000002d42c000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> rt6_nh_find_match+0xfa/0x1a0 net/ipv6/route.c:784 nexthop_for_each_fib6_nh+0x26d/0x4a0 net/ipv4/nexthop.c:1496 __find_rr_leaf+0x6e7/0xe00 net/ipv6/route.c:825 find_rr_leaf net/ipv6/route.c:853 [inline] rt6_select net/ipv6/route.c:897 [inline] fib6_table_lookup+0x57e/0xa30 net/ipv6/route.c:2195 ip6_pol_route+0x1cd/0x1150 net/ipv6/route.c:2231 pol_lookup_func include/net/ip6_fib.h:616 [inline] fib6_rule_lookup+0x386/0x720 net/ipv6/fib6_rules.c:121 ip6_route_output_flags_noref net/ipv6/route.c:2639 [inline] ip6_route_output_flags+0x1d0/0x640 net/ipv6/route.c:2651 ip6_dst_lookup_tail.constprop.0+0x961/0x1760 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1147 ip6_dst_lookup_flow+0x99/0x1d0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1250 rawv6_sendmsg+0xdab/0x4340 net/ipv6/raw.c:898 inet_sendmsg+0x119/0x140 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:853 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:745 [inline] sock_write_iter+0x4b8/0x5c0 net/socket.c:1160 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:497 [inline] vfs_write+0x6b6/0x1140 fs/read_write.c:590 ksys_write+0x1f8/0x260 fs/read_write.c:643 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Published Jul 12, 2024 · Updated Oct 14, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP, GitHub Security Advisories · CNA: Linux

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 0.3% (30-day exploitation probability)+3
  • Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
0.27%
ahead of 18% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Linux
Linux and 1 more
CVSS base
5.5
Medium · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
None
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Partial
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Linux Linux, Linux Linux Kernel).
  2. Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
  3. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Linux Linux version 2.6.17≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < b86762dbe19a62e785c189f313cda5b989931f37≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < 6eed6d3cd19ff3cfa83aeceed86da14abaf7417b≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < 73e7c8ca6ad76f29b2c99c20845a6f3b203ff0c6≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < 51ee2f7c30790799d0ec30c0ce0c743e58f046f2≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < 569c9d9ea6648d099187527b93982f406ddcebc0≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < 1ed9849fdf9a1a617129346b11d2094ca26828dc≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < d66fc4826127c82f99c4033380f8e93833d331c7
and 1 more ≥ 52e1635631b342803aecaf81a362c1464e3da2e5 and < f0cda984e4e634b221dbf9642b8ecc5b4806b41e
Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Linux Linux Kernel version 6.10-rc4≥ 2.6.17 and < 4.19.317version 6.10-rc3version 6.10-rc2version 6.10-rc1≥ 6.7 and < 6.9.7≥ 6.2 and < 6.6.36≥ 5.16 and < 6.1.96
and 3 more ≥ 5.11 and < 5.15.162≥ 5.5 and < 5.10.221≥ 4.20 and < 5.4.279
Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
5.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium 1.8 3.6 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
5.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium — — GitHub, Inc. via GitHub Security Advisories
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
  • Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
endpoint telemetry (EDR)crash dumps

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · linux/linux
    Oct 14, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 14, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 14, 2026
  • Fix documented
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Affected products added · linux/linux kernel
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 5.5
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Modified
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 14, 2026 · Alertas do Telegram
  • 2024
  • CVE published
    Jul 12, 2024 · Linux

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 2× References added · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026
  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026

References

14 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Linux
every CVE for this vendor
Memory corruption
same class
CWE-476
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-99999 ipv4: validate checksum_start before completing checksum 6h
  • CVE-2026-98432 ipv4: free inet_opt and ireq_opt after an RCU grace period 6h
  • CVE-2026-98424 wifi: cfg80211: undo netns switch if renaming the wiphy fails 1d
  • CVE-2026-98425 wifi: mac80211: don't warn when an IBSS has no channel to scan 1d
  • CVE-2026-98426 wifi: mwifiex: fix IRQ leak using wrong index in MSI-X error path 1d
  • CVE-2026-98427 net/sched: codel: bound the dropping loop per dequeue call 1d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2024-40960 is "ipv6: prevent possible NULL dereference in rt6_probe()", rated Medium. It affects Linux (Linux); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.27% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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