CVE-2024-26783 mm/vmscan: fix a bug calling wakeup_kswapd() with a wrong zone index

Medium 5.5 Published 4 Apr 2024 Updated 15 Oct 2026

A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash by exploiting a null pointer dereference in the memory management subsystem when NUMA balancing is enabled on systems with nodes lacking local memory.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2024-26783?

CVE-2024-26783 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Apr 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/vmscan: fix a bug calling wakeup_kswapd() with a wrong zone index

With numa balancing on, when a numa system is running where a numa node doesn't have its local memory so it has no managed zones, the following oops has been observed. It's because wakeup_kswapd() is called with a wrong zone index, -1. Fixed it by checking the index before calling wakeup_kswapd().

> BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 00000000000033f3 > #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode > #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page > PGD 0 P4D 0 > Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI > CPU: 2 PID: 895 Comm: masim Not tainted 6.6.0-dirty #255 > Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS > rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 > RIP: 0010:wakeup_kswapd (./linux/mm/vmscan.c:7812) > Code: (omitted) > RSP: 0000:ffffc90004257d58 EFLAGS: 00010286 > RAX: ffffffffffffffff RBX: ffff88883fff0480 RCX: 0000000000000003 > RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff88883fff0480 > RBP: ffffffffffffffff R08: ff0003ffffffffff R09: ffffffffffffffff > R10: ffff888106c95540 R11: 0000000055555554 R12: 0000000000000003 > R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88883fff0940 > FS: 00007fc4b8124740(0000) GS:ffff888827c00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 > CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 > CR2: 00000000000033f3 CR3: 000000026cc08004 CR4: 0000000000770ee0 > DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 > DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 > PKRU: 55555554 > Call Trace: > <TASK> > ? __die > ? page_fault_oops > ? __pte_offset_map_lock > ? exc_page_fault > ? asm_exc_page_fault > ? wakeup_kswapd > migrate_misplaced_page > __handle_mm_fault > handle_mm_fault > do_user_addr_fault > exc_page_fault > asm_exc_page_fault > RIP: 0033:0x55b897ba0808 > Code: (omitted) > RSP: 002b:00007ffeefa821a0 EFLAGS: 00010287 > RAX: 000055b89983acd0 RBX: 00007ffeefa823f8 RCX: 000055b89983acd0 > RDX: 00007fc2f8122010 RSI: 0000000000020000 RDI: 000055b89983acd0 > RBP: 00007ffeefa821a0 R08: 0000000000000037 R09: 0000000000000075 > R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000000000000000 > R13: 00007ffeefa82410 R14: 000055b897ba5dd8 R15: 00007fc4b8340000 > </TASK>

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26783?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-26783?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2024-26783 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26783 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-26783, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26783, GHSA-2pv2-gg54-r8f4, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-26783, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26783.