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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.5

CVE-2024-50020 json

ice: Fix improper handling of refcount in ice_sriov_set_msix_vec_count()

published 2024-10-21 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2024-45237

cvss
5.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 10%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ice: Fix improper handling of refcount in ice_sriov_set_msix_vec_count()

This patch addresses an issue with improper reference count handling in the ice_sriov_set_msix_vec_count() function.

First, the function calls ice_get_vf_by_id(), which increments the reference count of the vf pointer. If the subsequent call to ice_get_vf_vsi() fails, the function currently returns an error without decrementing the reference count of the vf pointer, leading to a reference count leak. The correct behavior, as implemented in this patch, is to decrement the reference count using ice_put_vf(vf) before returning an error when vsi is NULL.

Second, the function calls ice_sriov_get_irqs(), which sets vf->first_vector_idx. If this call returns a negative value, indicating an error, the function returns an error without decrementing the reference count of the vf pointer, resulting in another reference count leak. The patch addresses this by adding a call to ice_put_vf(vf) before returning an error when vf->first_vector_idx < 0.

This bug was identified by an experimental static analysis tool developed by our team. The tool specializes in analyzing reference count operations and identifying potential mismanagement of reference counts. In this case, the tool flagged the missing decrement operation as a potential issue, leading to this patch.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.11.4, 6.12
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.11.4-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50020

  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-56.58
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1025.27
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1026.28
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1021.25
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1022.22
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1025.30
  • linux-gkeop Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1008.10
  • linux-raspi Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1028.32

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50020

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-24.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-24.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-24.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-24.1.21.4
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0_Update_4 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 1-1.2
  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-22.1
  • kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-22.1
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_4 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 1-1.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:20164-1SUSE-SU-2025:20247-1SUSE-SU-2025:20163-1SUSE-SU-2025:20246-1SUSE-SU-2024:4387-1SUSE-SU-2024:4318-1

  • kernel-source-longterm openSUSE Tumbleweed 6.12.11-1.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 6.11.8-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:14705-1openSUSE-SU-2024:14500-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2024-50020 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: ice: Fix improper handling of refcount in ice_sriov_set_msix_vec_count()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 10% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.