# CVE-2024-26983: bootconfig: use memblock_free_late to free xbc memory to buddy > A use-after-free bug in the Linux kernel bootconfig subsystem can cause a system crash during initialization on specific architectures. - **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`) - **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:** Yes - **Published:** 1 May 2024 - **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-54584, BELL-CVE-2024-26983, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26983, GHSA-vxff-46qf-f9jx, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-26983, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26983 ## What is CVE-2024-26983? CVE-2024-26983 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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: bootconfig: use memblock_free_late to free xbc memory to buddy On the time to free xbc memory in xbc_exit(), memblock may has handed over memory to buddy allocator. So it doesn't make sense to free memory back to memblock. memblock_free() called by xbc_exit() even causes UAF bugs on architectures with CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK disabled like x86. Following KASAN logs shows this case. This patch fixes the xbc memory free problem by calling memblock_free() in early xbc init error rewind path and calling memblock_free_late() in xbc exit path to free memory to buddy allocator. [ 9.410890] ================================================================== [ 9.418962] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.426850] Read of size 8 at addr ffff88845dd30000 by task swapper/0/1 [ 9.435901] CPU: 9 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G U 6.9.0-rc3-00208-g586b5dfb51b9 #5 [ 9.446403] Hardware name: Intel Corporation RPLP LP5 (CPU:RaptorLake)/RPLP LP5 (ID:13), BIOS IRPPN02.01.01.00.00.19.015.D-00000000 Dec 28 2023 [ 9.460789] Call Trace: [ 9.463518] [ 9.465859] dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 [ 9.469949] print_report+0xce/0x610 [ 9.473944] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xf5/0x1b0 [ 9.478619] ? memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.483877] kasan_report+0xc6/0x100 [ 9.487870] ? memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.493125] memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.498187] memblock_phys_free+0xb4/0x160 [ 9.502762] ? __pfx_memblock_phys_free+0x10/0x10 [ 9.508021] ? mutex_unlock+0x7e/0xd0 [ 9.512111] ? __pfx_mutex_unlock+0x10/0x10 [ 9.516786] ? kernel_init_freeable+0x2d4/0x430 [ 9.521850] ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 [ 9.526426] xbc_exit+0x17/0x70 [ 9.529935] kernel_init+0x38/0x1e0 [ 9.533829] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0xd/0x30 [ 9.538601] ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50 [ 9.542596] ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 [ 9.547170] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 9.551552] [ 9.555649] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 9.561875] page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x1 pfn:0x45dd30 [ 9.570821] flags: 0x200000000000000(node=0|zone=2) [ 9.576271] page_type: 0xffffffff() [ 9.580167] raw: 0200000000000000 ffffea0011774c48 ffffea0012ba1848 0000000000000000 [ 9.588823] raw: 0000000000000001 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 9.597476] page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected [ 9.605362] Memory state around the buggy address: [ 9.610714] ffff88845dd2ff00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 9.618786] ffff88845dd2ff80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 9.626857] >ffff88845dd30000: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff [ 9.634930] ^ [ 9.638534] ffff88845dd30080: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff [ 9.646605] ffff88845dd30100: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff [ 9.654675] ================================================================== Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26983? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2024-26983? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2024-26983 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26983 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel - [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26983 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2024-26983 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26983 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26983/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26983/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26983 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26983 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26983 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26983/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.