CVE-2024-38606: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: qat - validate slices count returned by FW The function adf_send_admin_tl

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: qat - validate slices count returned by FW The function adf_send_admin_tl_start()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: qat - validate slices count returned by FW The function adf_send_admin_tl_start() enables the telemetry (TL) feature on a QAT device by sending the ICP_QAT_FW_TL_START message to the firmware. This triggers the FW to start writing TL data to a DMA buffer in memory and returns an array containing the number of accelerators of each type (slices) supported by this HW. The pointer to this array is stored in the adf_tl_hw_data data structure called slice_cnt. The array slice_cnt is then used in the function tl_print_dev_data() to report in debugfs only statistics about the supported accelerators. An incorrect value of the elements in slice_cnt might lead to an out of bounds memory read. At the moment, there isn't an implementation of FW that returns a wrong value, but for robustness validate the slice count array returned by FW.

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 0.22%, higher than 12% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

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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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