VulnerabilityPublished 29 Oct 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-50072: Linux kernel · x86/bugs: Use code segment selector for VERW operand

Source GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 23:31 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 29 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 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-643h-952w-33f5

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to use the code segment selector (%cs) for the VERW operand, preventing the general protection fault. Users should update to the fixed kernel version once available. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.

Description

CVE-2024-50072 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel affecting 32-bit mode when VERW-based mitigations like MDS/RFDS are enabled. The issue causes a general protection fault (#GP) due to improper use of segment registers during the VERW instruction execution. The kernel has been fixed to use the code segment selector (%cs) for the VERW operand to prevent this fault.

Impact

The vulnerability causes a general protection fault leading to a denial of service (kernel crash) when executing the VERW instruction in 32-bit mode with certain mitigations enabled. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity, but availability is affected due to the kernel fault. Exploitation requires local access with low privileges and no user interaction is needed.

Summary

This vulnerability arises from the Linux kernel executing the VERW instruction with an arbitrary user segment register value in 32-bit mode, leading to a general protection fault (#GP). The fault occurs because the VERW instruction triggers #GP if the memory operand's effective address lies outside the segment limits of CS, DS, ES, FS, or GS. The kernel's CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS macro executes VERW before returning to user space, and previously used a user-controlled segment register, causing faults. The fix involves using the %cs selector explicitly for the VERW operand, ensuring the instruction does not fault due to arbitrary user segment values. This issue was reported by Robert Gill and affects Linux kernel version 6.6.21-gentoo-x86 as an example. The CVSS 3.1 score is 5.5 (medium severity) with local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, no confidentiality or integrity impact, but high availability impact.

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