Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-35921

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.6.27 / 6.8.6 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click Patch available

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
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: mediatek: vcodec: Fix oops when HEVC init fails The stateless HEVC decoder saves the instance pointer in the context regardless if the initialization worked or not. This caused a use after free, when the pointer is freed in case of a failure in the deinit function. Only store the instance pointer when the initialization was successful, to solve this issue. Hardware name: Acer Tomato (rev3 - 4) board (DT) pstate: 80400009 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : vcodec_vpu_send_msg+0x4c/0x190 [mtk_vcodec_dec] lr : vcodec_send_ap_ipi+0x78/0x170 [mtk_vcodec_dec] sp : ffff80008750bc20 x29: ffff80008750bc20 x28: ffff1299f6d70000 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: 0000000000000000 x23: ffff80008750bc98 x22: 000000000000a003 x21: ffffd45c4cfae000 x20: 0000000000000010 x19: ffff1299fd668310 x18: 000000000000001a x17: 000000040044ffff x16: ffffd45cb15dc648 x15: 0000000000000000 x14: ffff1299c08da1c0 x13: ffffd45cb1f87a10 x12: ffffd45cb2f5fe80 x11: 0000000000000001 x10: 0000000000001b30 x9 : ffffd45c4d12b488 x8 : 1fffe25339380d81 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : ffff1299c9c06c00 x5 : 0000000000000132 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000010 x1 : ffff80008750bc98 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: vcodec_vpu_send_msg+0x4c/0x190 [mtk_vcodec_dec] vcodec_send_ap_ipi+0x78/0x170 [mtk_vcodec_dec] vpu_dec_deinit+0x1c/0x30 [mtk_vcodec_dec] vdec_hevc_slice_deinit+0x30/0x98 [mtk_vcodec_dec] vdec_if_deinit+0x38/0x68 [mtk_vcodec_dec] mtk_vcodec_dec_release+0x20/0x40 [mtk_vcodec_dec] fops_vcodec_release+0x64/0x118 [mtk_vcodec_dec] v4l2_release+0x7c/0x100 __fput+0x80/0x2d8 __fput_sync+0x58/0x70 __arm64_sys_close+0x40/0x90 invoke_syscall+0x50/0x128 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x48/0xf0 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38 el0_svc+0x38/0xd8 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xc0/0xc8 el0t_64_sync+0x1a8/0x1b0 Code: d503201f f9401660 b900127f b900227f (f9400400)

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-416

Memory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.

General guidance for the use after free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.5, < 6.6.27>= 6.7, < 6.8.6= 6.9

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
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.6.27 / 6.8.6 or later
Fixed in 6.6.276.8.6
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.6.27+, 6.8.6+, or 6.10+ (depending on which stable branch your distribution uses)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. For distributions using kernel 6.6.y: Upgrade to kernel version 6.6.27 or later
  3. 3. For distributions using kernel 6.7.x: Upgrade to kernel version 6.8.6 or later (skipping to 6.8.x branch)
  4. 4. For distributions using kernel 6.8.y: Upgrade to kernel version 6.8.6 or later
  5. 5. For distributions using kernel 6.9: Upgrade to kernel version 6.10 or later
  6. 6. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  7. 7. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version matches one of the fixed releases
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching kernel modules/drivers; ensure distribution-specific kernel packages are used rather than raw upstream kernels

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-35921 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2024-35921 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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