Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2024-56756

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.287 / 5.10.231 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: nvme-pci: fix freeing of the HMB descriptor table The HMB descriptor table is sized to the maximum number of descriptors that could be used for a given device, but __nvme_alloc_host_mem could break out of the loop earlier on memory allocation failure and end up using less descriptors than planned for, which leads to an incorrect size passed to dma_free_coherent. In practice this was not showing up because the number of descriptors tends to be low and the dma coherent allocator always allocates and frees at least a page.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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:>= 4.13, < 5.4.287>= 5.5, < 5.10.231>= 5.11, < 5.15.174>= 5.16, < 6.1.120>= 6.2, < 6.6.64>= 6.7, < 6.11.11>= 6.12, < 6.12.2

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 5.4.287 / 5.10.231 / 5.15.174 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2875.10.2315.15.174
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.4.287 (or later 5.4.x), 5.10.231 (or later 5.10.x), 5.15.174 (or later 5.15.x), or 6.1.120 (or later 6.1.x)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which kernel branch your current version belongs to (e.g., 5.4.x, 5.10.x, 5.15.x, or 6.1.x)
  3. Upgrade to a kernel version that includes the fix: for 5.4.x branch upgrade to >= 5.4.287, for 5.10.x upgrade to >= 5.10.231, for 5.15.x upgrade to >= 5.15.174, or for 6.1.x upgrade to >= 6.1.120
  4. If using a distribution kernel (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL), apply the distribution's security update that includes this fix
  5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the running kernel version post-reboot with `uname -r`
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver rebuilds for out-of-tree modules; ensure compatibility with system hardware and critical software before rebooting

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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2024-56756 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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