NULL Pointer DereferenceWeakness · CWE-476

CVE-2024-24856

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
53/100
Remediation priority · Moderate

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The memory allocation function ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED does not guarantee a successful allocation, but the subsequent code directly dereferences the pointer that receives it, which may lead to null pointer dereference. To fix this issue, a null pointer check should be added. If it is null, return exception code AE_NO_MEMORY.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED memory allocation function does not guarantee successful allocation and may return NULL, but the subsequent code directly dereferences this pointer without checking, leading to a null pointer dereference vulnerability.

MitigationAdd a null pointer check immediately after ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED calls and return AE_NO_MEMORY if the allocation fails, preventing the null dereference.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ACPI-enabled components in your environment
    Check if the system runs ACPI-related software: on Linux, run 'lsmod | grep acpi' or check for 'acpi' in kernel modules; on embedded systems, check for ACPI driver listings
    Affected if ACPI support is enabled and ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED is used in the codebase
  2. Locate ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED usage in source code
    Search the codebase for 'ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED' function calls: grep -rn 'ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED' /path/to/source
    Affected if The code contains ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED calls without subsequent NULL checks
  3. Verify absence of NULL pointer validation
    Examine each ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED call: check the few lines immediately following the allocation for a NULL check (e.g., 'if (ptr == NULL)' or 'if (!ptr)') before the pointer is dereferenced
    Affected if A ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED call is directly followed by pointer usage without a NULL check in between
  4. Check ACPI subsystem version
    Determine the ACPI component version: on Linux, check 'cat /sys/module/acpi/version' or the kernel version via 'uname -r'; for standalone ACPI tools, check the package version with the system's package manager
    Affected if The installed ACPI software version falls within any known affected range for this vulnerability (compare to upstream fixes)

Your environment is affected if it uses ACPI components that call ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED and the code fails to check for NULL before using the returned pointer.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Add a null pointer check immediately after ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED calls and return AE_NO_MEMORY if the allocation fails, preventing the null dereference.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-24856 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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