# CVE-2024-36892: mm/slub: avoid zeroing outside-object freepointer for single free

> A kernel bug causes a null pointer dereference and system crash when specific memory debugging and hardening options are enabled during single object freeing.

- **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:** 30 May 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-36892, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-36892, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-36892

## What is CVE-2024-36892?

CVE-2024-36892 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 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/slub: avoid zeroing outside-object freepointer for single free

Commit 284f17ac13fe ("mm/slub: handle bulk and single object freeing
separately") splits single and bulk object freeing in two functions
slab_free() and slab_free_bulk() which leads slab_free() to call
slab_free_hook() directly instead of slab_free_freelist_hook().

If `init_on_free` is set, slab_free_hook() zeroes the object.
Afterward, if `slub_debug=F` and `CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED` are
set, the do_slab_free() slowpath executes freelist consistency
checks and try to decode a zeroed freepointer which leads to a
"Freepointer corrupt" detection in check_object().

During bulk free, slab_free_freelist_hook() isn't affected as it always
sets it objects freepointer using set_freepointer() to maintain its
reconstructed freelist after `init_on_free`.

For single free, object's freepointer thus needs to be avoided when
stored outside the object if `init_on_free` is set. The freepointer left
as is, check_object() may later detect an invalid pointer value due to
objects overflow.

To reproduce, set `slub_debug=FU init_on_free=1 log_level=7` on the
command line of a kernel build with `CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED=y`.

dmesg sample log:
[   10.708715] =============================================================================
[   10.710323] BUG kmalloc-rnd-05-32 (Tainted: G    B           T ): Freepointer corrupt
[   10.712695] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[   10.712695]
[   10.712695] Slab 0xffffd8bdc400d580 objects=32 used=4 fp=0xffff9d9a80356f80 flags=0x200000000000a00(workingset|slab|node=0|zone=2)
[   10.716698] Object 0xffff9d9a80356600 @offset=1536 fp=0x7ee4f480ce0ecd7c
[   10.716698]
[   10.716698] Bytes b4 ffff9d9a803565f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
[   10.720703] Object   ffff9d9a80356600: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
[   10.720703] Object   ffff9d9a80356610: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
[   10.724696] Padding  ffff9d9a8035666c: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
[   10.724696] Padding  ffff9d9a8035667c: 00 00 00 00                                      ....
[   10.724696] FIX kmalloc-rnd-05-32: Object at 0xffff9d9a80356600 not freed

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-36892?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-36892?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-36892 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-36892 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-2024-36892 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-36892 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 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-2024-36892 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-2024-36892/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-36892/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-36892
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-36892
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-36892

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-36892/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.