CVE-2024-40959: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm6: check ip6_dst_idev() return value in xfrm6_get_saddr() ip6_dst

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm6: check ip6_dst_idev() return value in xfrm6_get_saddr() ip6_dst_idev() can return NU

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm6: check ip6_dst_idev() return value in xfrm6_get_saddr() ip6_dst_idev() can return NULL, xfrm6_get_saddr() must act accordingly. syzbot reported: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007] CPU: 1 PID: 12 Comm: kworker/u8:1 Not tainted 6.10.0-rc2-syzkaller-00383-gb8481381d4e2 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 04/02/2024 Workqueue: wg-kex-wg1 wg_packet_handshake_send_worker RIP: 0010:xfrm6_get_saddr+0x93/0x130 net/ipv6/xfrm6_policy.c:64 Code: df 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 97 00 00 00 4c 8b ab d8 00 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 4c 89 ea 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 86 00 00 00 4d 8b 6d 00 e8 ca 13 47 01 48 b8 00 RSP: 0018:ffffc90000117378 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffff88807b079dc0 RCX: ffffffff89a0d6d7 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff89a0d6e9 RDI: ffff88807b079e98 RBP: ffff88807ad73248 R08: 0000000000000007 R09: fffffffffffff000 R10: ffff88807b079dc0 R11: 0000000000000007 R1

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.28%, higher than 20% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored November 10, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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