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CVE Record

CVE-2024-36979: net: bridge: mst: fix vlan use-after-free

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: bridge: mst: fix vlan use-after-free syzbot reported a suspicious rcu usage[1] in bridge's mst code. While fixing it I noticed that nothing prevents a vlan to be freed while walking the list from the same path (br forward delay timer). Fix the rcu usage and also make sure we are not accessing freed memory by making br_mst_vlan_set_state use rcu read lock. [1] WARNING: suspicious RCU usage 6.9.0-rc6-syzkaller #0 Not tainted ----------------------------- net/bridge/br_private.h:1599 suspicious rcu_dereference_protected() usage! ... stack backtrace: CPU: 1 PID: 8017 Comm: syz-executor.1 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc6-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 03/27/2024 Call Trace: <IRQ> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:114 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x221/0x340 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:6712 nbp_vlan_group net/bridge/br_private.h:1599 [inline] br_mst_set_state+0x1ea/0x650 net/bridge/br_mst.c:105 br_set_state+0x28a/0x7b0 net/bridge/br_stp.c:47 br_forward_delay_timer_expired+0x176/0x440 net/bridge/br_stp_timer.c:88 call_timer_fn+0x18e/0x650 kernel/time/timer.c:1793 expire_timers kernel/time/timer.c:1844 [inline] __run_timers kernel/time/timer.c:2418 [inline] __run_timer_base+0x66a/0x8e0 kernel/time/timer.c:2429 run_timer_base kernel/time/timer.c:2438 [inline] run_timer_softirq+0xb7/0x170 kernel/time/timer.c:2448 __do_softirq+0x2c6/0x980 kernel/softirq.c:554 invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:428 [inline] __irq_exit_rcu+0xf2/0x1c0 kernel/softirq.c:633 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:645 instr_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1043 [inline] sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xa6/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1043 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1a/0x20 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:702 RIP: 0010:lock_acquire+0x264/0x550 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5758 Code: 2b 00 74 08 4c 89 f7 e8 ba d1 84 00 f6 44 24 61 02 0f 85 85 01 00 00 41 f7 c7 00 02 00 00 74 01 fb 48 c7 44 24 40 0e 36 e0 45 <4b> c7 44 25 00 00 00 00 00 43 c7 44 25 09 00 00 00 00 43 c7 44 25 RSP: 0018:ffffc90013657100 EFLAGS: 00000206 RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 1ffff920026cae2c RCX: 0000000000000001 RDX: dffffc0000000000 RSI: ffffffff8bcaca00 RDI: ffffffff8c1eaa60 RBP: ffffc90013657260 R08: ffffffff92efe507 R09: 1ffffffff25dfca0 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff25dfca1 R12: 1ffff920026cae28 R13: dffffc0000000000 R14: ffffc90013657160 R15: 0000000000000246

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysisunknown

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2024-36979 is a Linux kernel bridge networking flaw where bridge VLAN state can be accessed after being freed. For executives, this is infrastructure-level risk most relevant to Linux systems doing network bridging, virtualization, containers, or routing-style services. The public data does not provide CVSS, business impact, or confirmed exploitation.

Executive priority

Treat as a targeted kernel maintenance item for network and virtualization infrastructure. Escalate patching where Linux bridging is business-critical, but avoid emergency assumptions because the source lacks CVSS, KEV listing, and confirmed exploitation.

Technical view

The issue is in Linux bridge MST code. A syzbot report showed suspicious RCU usage, and the fix adds RCU read locking in br_mst_vlan_set_state to prevent VLAN memory from being freed while bridge timer logic walks related state. Kernel stable commits are referenced as fixes.

Likely exposure

Likely exposure is Linux hosts using kernel bridge VLAN or MST behavior, especially virtualization, container, hypervisor, appliance, or network-service systems. The source lists Linux kernel versions and stable fix commits, but distro package mappings must be checked separately.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and KEV is false. The evidence comes from syzbot/kernel debugging and kernel stable fixes. No public exploit path, attacker prerequisites, or impact rating is supplied in the bundle.

Researcher notes

Key evidence is a use-after-free prevention change tied to RCU locking in bridge MST/VLAN state handling during bridge forward-delay timer paths. The bundle does not provide exploitability analysis, trigger requirements, or downstream distro status.

Mitigation direction

  • Check vendor kernel advisories for packages containing the referenced stable fixes.
  • Prioritize Linux bridge-heavy systems for kernel update planning.
  • Map running kernels to distro-fixed versions before declaring exposure closed.
  • Use vendor-supported mitigations if immediate kernel updates are unavailable.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Linux kernel versions across bridge, virtualization, and container hosts.
  • Confirm whether kernel bridge VLAN or MST functionality is in use.
  • Verify installed kernels include one of the referenced stable fixes.
  • Review vendor advisories for backported fixes with different version strings.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
7

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

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CVE-2024-36979 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
2ADP providers
6Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
CVECVE Program Container

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
LinuxLinuxec7328b59176227216c461601c6bd0e922232a9b, ec7328b59176227216c461601c6bd0e922232a9b, ec7328b59176227216c461601c6bd0e922232a9b, ec7328b59176227216c461601c6bd0e922232a9b, ec7328b59176227216c461601c6bd0e922232a9bunaffected
LinuxLinux5.18, 0, 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3, 6.10affected
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.