---
id: CVE-2024-57940
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  exfat: fix the infinite loop in exfat_readdir()

  If the file system is corrupted so that a cluster is linked to
  itself in the cluster chain, and there is an unused dire…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  exfat: fix the infinite loop in exfat_readdir()

  If the file system is corrupted so that a cluster is linked to
  itself in the cluster chain, and there is an unused dire…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-835
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.7, < 6.1.125'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.72'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.10'
  - linux_kernel = 6.13
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.12.10
published: '2025-01-21'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T02:17:13.330'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-57940'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/28c21f0ac5293a4bf19b3e0e32005d6dd31a6c17'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31beabd0f47f8c3ed9965ba861c9e5b252d4920a'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d8cfbb8723bd3d3222f360227a1cc15227189ca6'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9ea94f5cd117d56e573696d0045ab3044185a15'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dc1d7afceb982e8f666e70a582e6b5aa806de063'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fee873761bd978d077d8c55334b4966ac4cb7b59'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00001.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00002.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-503939.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00224
epssPercentile: 0.12142
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T03:30:12.780Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

exfat: fix the infinite loop in exfat_readdir()

If the file system is corrupted so that a cluster is linked to
itself in the cluster chain, and there is an unused directory
entry in the cluster, 'dentry' will not be incremented, causing
condition 'dentry < max_dentries' unable to prevent an infinite
loop.

This infinite loop causes s_lock not to be released, and other
tasks will hang, such as exfat_sync_fs().

This commit stops traversing the cluster chain when there is unused
directory entry in the cluster to avoid this infinite loop.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 5.7, < 6.1.125`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.72`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.10`
- `linux_kernel = 6.13`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.12.10`