CVE-2024-36932

What it actually does

Use-after-free in thermal/debugfs allowing concurrent removal of a cooling device and state update to dereference a freed thermal_debugfs object, resulting in kernel crash.

Why it matters to the business

Unpatched Linux systems may experience unexpected kernel panics during thermal management operations, causing downtime and potential data loss in servers, embedded devices, and cloud workloads that rely on the affected kernel versions.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with local access triggers thermal cooling device removal in one thread while another thread performs state updates on the same device; without proper locking the debugfs object is freed and subsequently accessed, crashing the kernel.

How to fix it

Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version containing commit c1279dee33369e2525f532364bb87207d23b9481 or later; apply the stable backport for the 6.8+ series if running a distribution kernel.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm the running kernel contains commit c1279dee33369e2525f532364bb87207d23b9481 via git log or kernel version string; exercise thermal debugfs paths under concurrent cdev removal to verify absence of crashes.

Typical attack path

1. Obtain local user access on a vulnerable Linux system
2. Identify or create conditions that exercise thermal cooling device registration and removal
3. Race thermal_debug_cdev_remove against thermal_debug_cdev_state_update via concurrent sysfs or debugfs operations
4. Trigger kernel panic via the resulting use-after-free

How to detect it

Review kernel logs for oops or panic messages referencing thermal_debugfs or cdev removal; correlate with audit or system call traces showing concurrent thermal sysfs activity around the time of the crash.

What your security team should do

• Prioritize kernel updates on all production Linux hosts within the next maintenance window
• Monitor vendor advisories for distribution-specific backports
• Restrict untrusted local access on systems where thermal debugfs is enabled until patched
• Test patched kernels in staging environments before broad deployment