# CVE-2024-26987: mm/memory-failure: fix deadlock when hugetlb_optimize_vmemmap is enabled

> A deadlock in the Linux kernel memory failure handler can cause a denial of service when hugetlb optimized vmemmap is enabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-26987, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26987, GHSA-vh5c-fh26-4h3r, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26987

## What is CVE-2024-26987?

CVE-2024-26987 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, 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:

mm/memory-failure: fix deadlock when hugetlb_optimize_vmemmap is enabled

When I did hard offline test with hugetlb pages, below deadlock occurs:

======================================================
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
6.8.0-11409-gf6cef5f8c37f #1 Not tainted
------------------------------------------------------
bash/46904 is trying to acquire lock:
ffffffffabe68910 (cpu_hotplug_lock){++++}-{0:0}, at: static_key_slow_dec+0x16/0x60

but task is already holding lock:
ffffffffabf92ea8 (pcp_batch_high_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: zone_pcp_disable+0x16/0x40

which lock already depends on the new lock.

the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #1 (pcp_batch_high_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}:
       __mutex_lock+0x6c/0x770
       page_alloc_cpu_online+0x3c/0x70
       cpuhp_invoke_callback+0x397/0x5f0
       __cpuhp_invoke_callback_range+0x71/0xe0
       _cpu_up+0xeb/0x210
       cpu_up+0x91/0xe0
       cpuhp_bringup_mask+0x49/0xb0
       bringup_nonboot_cpus+0xb7/0xe0
       smp_init+0x25/0xa0
       kernel_init_freeable+0x15f/0x3e0
       kernel_init+0x15/0x1b0
       ret_from_fork+0x2f/0x50
       ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30

-> #0 (cpu_hotplug_lock){++++}-{0:0}:
       __lock_acquire+0x1298/0x1cd0
       lock_acquire+0xc0/0x2b0
       cpus_read_lock+0x2a/0xc0
       static_key_slow_dec+0x16/0x60
       __hugetlb_vmemmap_restore_folio+0x1b9/0x200
       dissolve_free_huge_page+0x211/0x260
       __page_handle_poison+0x45/0xc0
       memory_failure+0x65e/0xc70
       hard_offline_page_store+0x55/0xa0
       kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12c/0x1d0
       vfs_write+0x387/0x550
       ksys_write+0x64/0xe0
       do_syscall_64+0xca/0x1e0
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6d/0x75

other info that might help us debug this:

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock(pcp_batch_high_lock);
                               lock(cpu_hotplug_lock);
                               lock(pcp_batch_high_lock);
  rlock(cpu_hotplug_lock);

 *** DEADLOCK ***

5 locks held by bash/46904:
 #0: ffff98f6c3bb23f0 (sb_writers#5){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: ksys_write+0x64/0xe0
 #1: ffff98f6c328e488 (&of->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: kernfs_fop_write_iter+0xf8/0x1d0
 #2: ffff98ef83b31890 (kn->active#113){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x100/0x1d0
 #3: ffffffffabf9db48 (mf_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: memory_failure+0x44/0xc70
 #4: ffffffffabf92ea8 (pcp_batch_high_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: zone_pcp_disable+0x16/0x40

stack backtrace:
CPU: 10 PID: 46904 Comm: bash Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.8.0-11409-gf6cef5f8c37f #1
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xa0
 check_noncircular+0x129/0x140
 __lock_acquire+0x1298/0x1cd0
 lock_acquire+0xc0/0x2b0
 cpus_read_lock+0x2a/0xc0
 static_key_slow_dec+0x16/0x60
 __hugetlb_vmemmap_restore_folio+0x1b9/0x200
 dissolve_free_huge_page+0x211/0x260
 __page_handle_poison+0x45/0xc0
 memory_failure+0x65e/0xc70
 hard_offline_page_store+0x55/0xa0
 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12c/0x1d0
 vfs_write+0x387/0x550
 ksys_write+0x64/0xe0
 do_syscall_64+0xca/0x1e0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6d/0x75
RIP: 0033:0x7fc862314887
Code: 10 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b7 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24 18 48 89 74 24
RSP: 002b:00007fff19311268 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000000000000000c RCX: 00007fc862314887
RDX: 000000000000000c RSI: 000056405645fe10 RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: 000056405645fe10 R08: 00007fc8623d1460 R09: 000000007fffffff
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 000000000000000c
R13: 00007fc86241b780 R14: 00007fc862417600 R15: 00007fc862416a00

In short, below scene breaks the 
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26987?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-26987?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-26987 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26987 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-26987 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-26987 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, 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-2024-26987 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2024-26987/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26987/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-26987
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-26987
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-26987

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26987/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.