CVE-2024-49940: Linux kernel · l2tp: prevent possible tunnel refcount underflow
Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.
Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 13:34 UTC
Thin evidence
One scorer or none| CNA (Linux) | CVSS 3.1 | 7.8 |
|---|
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 21 Oct 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Linux Linux | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: l2tp: prevent possible tunnel refcount underflow When a session is created, it sets a backpointer to its tunnel. When the session refcount drops to 0, l2tp_session_free drops the tunnel refcount if session->tunnel is non-NULL. However, session->tunnel is set in l2tp_session_create, before the tunnel refcount is incremented by l2tp_session_register, which leaves a small window where session->tunnel is non-NULL when the tunnel refcount hasn't been bumped. Moving the assignment to l2tp_session_register is trivial but l2tp_session_create calls l2tp_session_set_header_len which uses session->tunnel to get the tunnel's encap. Add an encap arg to l2tp_session_set_header_len to avoid using session->tunnel. If l2tpv3 sessions have colliding IDs, it is possible for l2tp_v3_session_get to race with l2tp_session_register and fetch a session which doesn't yet have session->tunnel set. Add a check for this case.
References
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa7132362e79abc4f2add4d8657dd1679341edc5 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/98691b2e28a6c3dac0680914493d54c77f215755 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7415e60c25a6108cd7955a20b2e66b6251ffe02 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/24256415d18695b46da06c93135f5b51c548b950 (opens in a new tab)