CVE-2024-53142initramfs: avoid filename buffer overrun

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: initramfs: avoid filename buffer overrun The initramfs filename field is defined in Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/buffer-format.rst as: 37 cpio_file := ALGN(4) + cpio_header + filename + "\0" + ALGN(4) + data ... 55 ============= ================== ========================= 56 Field name Field size Meaning 57 ============= ================== ========================= ... 70 c_namesize 8 bytes Length of filename, including final \0 When extracting an initramfs cpio archive, the kernel's do_name() path handler assumes a zero-terminated path at @collected, passing it directly to filp_open() / init_mkdir() / init_mknod(). If a specially crafted cpio entry carries a non-zero-terminated filename and is followed by uninitialized memory, then a file may be created with trailing characters that represent the uninitialized memory. The ability to create an initramfs entry would imply already having full control of the system, so the buffer overrun shouldn't be considered a security vulnerability. Append the output of the following bash script to an existing initramfs and observe any created /initramfs_test_fname_overrunAA* path. E.g. ./reproducer.sh | gzip >> /myinitramfs It's easiest to observe non-zero uninitialized memory when the output is gzipped, as it'll overflow the heap allocated @out_buf in __gunzip(), rather than the initrd_start+initrd_size block. ---- reproducer.sh ---- nilchar="A" # change to "\0" to properly zero terminate / pad magic="070701" ino=1 mode=$(( 0100777 )) uid=0 gid=0 nlink=1 mtime=1 filesize=0 devmajor=0 devminor=1 rdevmajor=0 rdevminor=0 csum=0 fname="initramfs_test_fname_overrun" namelen=$(( ${#fname} + 1 )) # plus one to account for terminator printf "%s%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%s" \ $magic $ino $mode $uid $gid $nlink $mtime $filesize \ $devmajor $devminor $rdevmajor $rdevminor $namelen $csum $fname termpadlen=$(( 1 + ((4 - ((110 + $namelen) & 3)) % 4) )) printf "%.s${nilchar}" $(seq 1 $termpadlen) ---- reproducer.sh ---- Symlink filename fields handled in do_symlink() won't overrun past the data segment, due to the explicit zero-termination of the symlink target. Fix filename buffer overrun by aborting the initramfs FSM if any cpio entry doesn't carry a zero-terminator at the expected (name_len - 1) offset.

Timeline

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.25% · top 84% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.

Affected products

• Linux · Linux

  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < bb7ac96670ab1d8d681015f9d66e45dad579af4d
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < c509b1acbd867d9e09580fe059a924cb5825afb1
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < d3df9f26cff97beaa5643e551031795d5d5cddbe
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < 6983b8ac787b3add5571cda563574932a59a99bb
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < f892ddcf9f645380c358e73653cb0900f6bc9eb8
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < 1a423bbbeaf9e3e20c4686501efd9b661fe834db
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < 49d01e736c3045319e030d1e75fb983011abaca7
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < fb83b093f75806333b6f4ae29b158d2e0e3ec971
  • affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < e017671f534dd3f568db9e47b0583e853d2da9b5

• Linux · Linux

  • affected 2.6.12
  • unaffected < 2.6.12
  • unaffected 4.19.325 – ≤ 4.19.*
  • unaffected 5.4.287 – ≤ 5.4.*
  • unaffected 5.10.231 – ≤ 5.10.*
  • unaffected 5.15.174 – ≤ 5.15.*
  • unaffected 6.1.120 – ≤ 6.1.*
  • unaffected 6.6.64 – ≤ 6.6.*
  • unaffected 6.11.11 – ≤ 6.11.*
  • unaffected 6.12.2 – ≤ 6.12.*
  • unaffected 6.13 – ≤ *

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• EUVD EUVD-2024-51814 (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2024-53142](https://cveledger.app/badge/CVE-2024-53142.svg)](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2024-53142)

Record last updated 11 May 2026, 20:51 UTC.