Security assessments indicate that CVE-2024-56685 presents a notable risk, potentially requiring prompt mitigation.
Status: Analyzed
Last updated: 🕗 26 Sep 2025, 20:26 UTC
Originally published on: 🕙 28 Dec 2024, 10:15 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 272 days
CVSS Release: version 3
nvd@nist.gov
Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVE-2024-56685: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ASoC: mediatek: Check num_codecs is not zero to avoid panic during probe Following commit 13f58267cda3 ("ASoC: soc.h: don't create dummy Component via COMP_DUMMY()"), COMP_DUMMY() became an array with zero length, and only gets populated with the dummy struct after the card is registered. Since the sound card driver's probe happens before the card registration, accessing any of the members of a dummy component during probe will result in undefined behavior. This can be observed in the mt8188 and mt8195 machine sound drivers. By omitting a dai link subnode in the sound card's node in the Devicetree, the default uninitialized dummy codec is used, and when its dai_name pointer gets passed to strcmp() it results in a null pointer dereference and a kernel panic. In addition to that, set_card_codec_info() in the generic helpers file, mtk-soundcard-driver.c, will populate a dai link with a dummy codec when a dai link node is present in DT but with no codec property. The result is that at probe time, a dummy codec can either be uninitialized with num_codecs = 0, or be an initialized dummy codec, with num_codecs = 1 and dai_name = "snd-soc-dummy-dai". In order to accommodate for both situations, check that num_codecs is not zero before accessing the codecs' fields but still check for the codec's dai name against "snd-soc-dummy-dai" as needed. While at it, also drop the check that dai_name is not null in the mt8192 driver, introduced in commit 4d4e1b6319e5 ("ASoC: mediatek: mt8192: Check existence of dai_name before dereferencing"), as it is actually redundant given the preceding num_codecs != 0 check.
The exploitability of CVE-2024-56685 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
CVE-2024-56685 presents an accessible attack vector with minimal effort required. Restricting access controls and implementing security updates are critical to reducing exploitation risks.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2024-56685, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2024-56685, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 0.045% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 18.4%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 81.6% of others.
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