CVE-2024-41090: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tap: add missing verification for short frame The cited commit missed to check against the

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tap: add missing verification for short frame The cited commit missed to check against the

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tap: add missing verification for short frame The cited commit missed to check against the validity of the frame length in the tap_get_user_xdp() path, which could cause a corrupted skb to be sent downstack. Even before the skb is transmitted, the tap_get_user_xdp()-->skb_set_network_header() may assume the size is more than ETH_HLEN. Once transmitted, this could either cause out-of-bound access beyond the actual length, or confuse the underlayer with incorrect or inconsistent header length in the skb metadata. In the alternative path, tap_get_user() already prohibits short frame which has the length less than Ethernet header size from being transmitted. This is to drop any frame shorter than the Ethernet header size just like how tap_get_user() does. CVE: CVE-2024-41090

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 0.26%, higher than 17% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 31, 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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