# CVE-2024-35920: media: mediatek: vcodec: adding lock to protect decoder context list

> A missing lock in the MediaTek video codec driver allows a race condition leading to a NULL pointer dereference and kernel panic.

- **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:** 19 May 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-35920, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-35920, GHSA-78cr-5pf2-63v5, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-35920

## What is CVE-2024-35920?

CVE-2024-35920 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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:

media: mediatek: vcodec: adding lock to protect decoder context list

Add a lock for the ctx_list, to avoid accessing a NULL pointer
within the 'vpu_dec_ipi_handler' function when the ctx_list has
been deleted due to an unexpected behavior on the SCP IP block.

Hardware name: Google juniper sku16 board (DT)
pstate: 20400005 (nzCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO BTYPE=--)
pc : vpu_dec_ipi_handler+0x58/0x1f8 [mtk_vcodec_dec]
lr : scp_ipi_handler+0xd0/0x194 [mtk_scp]
sp : ffffffc0131dbbd0
x29: ffffffc0131dbbd0 x28: 0000000000000000
x27: ffffff9bb277f348 x26: ffffff9bb242ad00
x25: ffffffd2d440d3b8 x24: ffffffd2a13ff1d4
x23: ffffff9bb7fe85a0 x22: ffffffc0133fbdb0
x21: 0000000000000010 x20: ffffff9b050ea328
x19: ffffffc0131dbc08 x18: 0000000000001000
x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffffffd2d461c6e0
x15: 0000000000000242 x14: 000000000000018f
x13: 000000000000004d x12: 0000000000000000
x11: 0000000000000001 x10: fffffffffffffff0
x9 : ffffff9bb6e793a8 x8 : 0000000000000000
x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 000000000000003f
x5 : 0000000000000040 x4 : fffffffffffffff0
x3 : 0000000000000020 x2 : ffffff9bb6e79080
x1 : 0000000000000010 x0 : ffffffc0131dbc08
Call trace:
vpu_dec_ipi_handler+0x58/0x1f8 [mtk_vcodec_dec (HASH:6c3f 2)]
scp_ipi_handler+0xd0/0x194 [mtk_scp (HASH:7046 3)]
mt8183_scp_irq_handler+0x44/0x88 [mtk_scp (HASH:7046 3)]
scp_irq_handler+0x48/0x90 [mtk_scp (HASH:7046 3)]
irq_thread_fn+0x38/0x94
irq_thread+0x100/0x1c0
kthread+0x140/0x1fc
ret_from_fork+0x10/0x30
Code: 54000088 f94ca50a eb14015f 54000060 (f9400108)
---[ end trace ace43ce36cbd5c93 ]---
Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops: Fatal exception
SMP: stopping secondary CPUs
Kernel Offset: 0x12c4000000 from 0xffffffc010000000
PHYS_OFFSET: 0xffffffe580000000
CPU features: 0x08240002,2188200c
Memory Limit: none

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-35920?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-35920?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-35920 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-35920 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-2024-35920 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-35920 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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-2024-35920 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-2024-35920/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-35920/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-35920
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-35920
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-35920

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-35920/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.