Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-56611

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.6.66 / 6.12.5 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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: mm/mempolicy: fix migrate_to_node() assuming there is at least one VMA in a MM We currently assume that there is at least one VMA in a MM, which isn't true. So we might end up having find_vma() return NULL, to then de-reference NULL. So properly handle find_vma() returning NULL. This fixes the report: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 6021 Comm: syz-executor284 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc7-syzkaller-00187-gf868cd251776 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/30/2024 RIP: 0010:migrate_to_node mm/mempolicy.c:1090 [inline] RIP: 0010:do_migrate_pages+0x403/0x6f0 mm/mempolicy.c:1194 Code: ... RSP: 0018:ffffc9000375fd08 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffc9000375fd78 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: ffff88807e171300 RSI: dffffc0000000000 RDI: ffff88803390c044 RBP: ffff88807e171428 R08: 0000000000000014 R09: fffffbfff2039ef1 R10: ffffffff901cf78f R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000003 R13: ffffc9000375fe90 R14: ffffc9000375fe98 R15: ffffc9000375fdf8 FS: 00005555919e1380(0000) GS:ffff8880b8700000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00005555919e1ca8 CR3: 000000007f12a000 CR4: 00000000003526f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> kernel_migrate_pages+0x5b2/0x750 mm/mempolicy.c:1709 __do_sys_migrate_pages mm/mempolicy.c:1727 [inline] __se_sys_migrate_pages mm/mempolicy.c:1723 [inline] __x64_sys_migrate_pages+0x96/0x100 mm/mempolicy.c:1723 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [[email protected]: add unlikely()]

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-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference 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:>= 2.6.16, < 6.6.66>= 6.7, < 6.12.5= 6.13

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 6.6.66 / 6.12.5 or later
Fixed in 6.6.666.12.5
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.6.66, 6.12.5, or 6.14+ (depending on branch)

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Check if the system is running an affected version: >= 2.6.16 and < 6.6.66, OR >= 6.7 and < 6.12.5, OR = 6.13
  3. If affected, upgrade the kernel to a fixed release: 6.6.66 or later for the 6.6.y branch, 6.12.5 or later for the 6.12.y branch, or 6.14+ for newer branches
  4. Apply the upgrade via the distribution's package manager (e.g., `apt-get dist-upgrade`, `yum update`, or equivalent)
  5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version after reboot
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility issues with custom kernel modules or specific hardware drivers

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 $2,850. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2024-56611 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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