CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2024-56617

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cacheinfo: Allocate memory during CPU hotplug if not done from the primary CPU Commit 5944ce092b97 ("arch_topology: Build cacheinfo from primary CPU") adds functionality that architectures can use to optionally allocate and build cacheinfo early during boot. Commit 6539cffa9495 ("cacheinfo: Add arch specific early level initializer") lets secondary CPUs correct (and reallocate memory) cacheinfo data if needed. If the early build functionality is not used and cacheinfo does not need correction, memory for cacheinfo is never allocated. x86 does not use the early build functionality. Consequently, during the cacheinfo CPU hotplug callback, last_level_cache_is_valid() attempts to dereference a NULL pointer: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000100 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEPMT SMP NOPTI CPU: 0 PID 19 Comm: cpuhp/0 Not tainted 6.4.0-rc2 #1 RIP: 0010: last_level_cache_is_valid+0x95/0xe0a Allocate memory for cacheinfo during the cacheinfo CPU hotplug callback if not done earlier. Moreover, before determining the validity of the last-level cache info, ensure that it has been allocated. Simply checking for non-zero cache_leaves() is not sufficient, as some architectures (e.g., Intel processors) have non-zero cache_leaves() before allocation. Dereferencing NULL cacheinfo can occur in update_per_cpu_data_slice_size(). This function iterates over all online CPUs. However, a CPU may have come online recently, but its cacheinfo may not have been allocated yet. While here, remove an unnecessary indentation in allocate_cache_info(). [ bp: Massage. ]

How to fix

Remediation Available
linuxDebian
Fixed in:6.12.5-1CVE-2024-56617
Fixed in:6.12.5-1CVE-2024-56617
linux-hwe-6.11Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-21.21~24.04.1USN-7379-1
linux-image-6.11.0-1011-lowlatencyUbuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1011.12~24.04.1USN-7381-1
linux-image-6.11.0-1011-lowlatency-64kUbuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1011.12~24.04.1USN-7381-1
linux-image-6.11.0-1017-oemUbuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1017.17USN-7382-1
linux-image-6.11.0-21-genericUbuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-21.21~24.04.1+1USN-7379-1
linux-image-6.11.0-21-generic-64kUbuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-21.21~24.04.1+1USN-7379-1
linux-image-generic-64k-hwe-24.04Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-21.21~24.04.1USN-7379-1
linux-image-generic-hwe-24.04Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-21.21~24.04.1USN-7379-1
linux-image-lowlatency-64k-hwe-24.04Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1011.12~24.04.1USN-7381-1
linux-image-lowlatency-hwe-24.04Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1011.12~24.04.1USN-7381-1
linux-image-oem-24.04bUbuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1017.17USN-7382-1
linux-image-virtual-hwe-24.04Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-21.21~24.04.1USN-7379-1
linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1011.12~24.04.1USN-7381-1
linux-oem-6.11Ubuntu
Fixed in:6.11.0-1017.17USN-7382-1

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

0.20%probability of exploitation in 30 days
10thpercentile

Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 10% of all known CVEs.

References

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVESeverityCVSSEPSSExploitedFix
CVE-2023-21758High7.592%-Fix
CVE-2023-21547High7.588%-Fix
CVE-2014-3470Medium4.386%-Fix
CVE-2021-44224High8.282%-Fix
CVE-2016-0742High7.582%-Fix
CVE-2009-1386Medium5.080%-Fix
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-10-01.