CVE-2024-50190
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes a memory leak vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Intel Ethernet Controller (ice) driver. When initializing transmit topology, the driver fails to properly free firmware blob memory, causing gradual memory exhaustion. This affects systems using Intel Ethernet 800 Series network adapters with the ice driver.
💻 Affected Systems
- Linux kernel with Intel Ethernet Controller 800 Series driver (ice)
📦 What is this software?
Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Sustained exploitation could lead to kernel memory exhaustion, causing system instability, crashes, or denial of service on affected network interfaces.
Likely Case
Gradual memory consumption over time during normal operation, potentially leading to performance degradation or system instability after extended uptime.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper monitoring and regular reboots; memory leak occurs only during specific driver initialization scenarios.
🎯 Exploit Status
This is a reliability issue rather than a security exploit; discovered via kmemleak detection tool.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Linux kernel with commits 43544b4e30732c3d88f423252281915d5bc739b6 and c188afdc36113760873ec78cbc036f6b05f77621
Vendor Advisory: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43544b4e30732c3d88f423252281915d5bc739b6
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Linux kernel to version containing the fix commits. 2. Reboot system to load patched kernel. 3. Verify ice driver version matches patched kernel.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Regular system reboots
linuxPeriodically reboot systems to clear accumulated memory from the leak
sudo reboot
Disable affected network interfaces
linuxTemporarily disable Intel 800 Series Ethernet interfaces if not critical
sudo ip link set dev <interface> down
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement memory monitoring and alerting for kernel memory exhaustion
- Schedule regular system reboots to clear accumulated leaked memory
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check kernel version and if ice driver is loaded: lsmod | grep ice && uname -rCheck Version:
uname -rVerify Fix Applied:
Verify kernel contains fix commits: git log --oneline | grep -E '43544b4e30732c3d88f423252281915d5bc739b6|c188afdc36113760873ec78cbc036f6b05f77621'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Kernel oom-killer messages
- System memory exhaustion warnings
- kmemleak reports in dmesg
Network Indicators:
- Degraded network performance on affected interfaces
SIEM Query:
source="kernel" AND ("out of memory" OR "oom-killer" OR "kmemleak")