# CVE-2024-40914: mm/huge_memory: don't unpoison huge_zero_folio

> A kernel bug in huge memory handling causes a panic when unpoisoning huge zero folios, leading to system denial of service.

- **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:** 12 Jul 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-40914, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40914, GHSA-pqrm-m338-wr89, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-40914

## What is CVE-2024-40914?

CVE-2024-40914 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jul 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/huge_memory: don't unpoison huge_zero_folio

When I did memory failure tests recently, below panic occurs:

 kernel BUG at include/linux/mm.h:1135!
 invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
 CPU: 9 PID: 137 Comm: kswapd1 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc4-00491-gd5ce28f156fe-dirty #14
 RIP: 0010:shrink_huge_zero_page_scan+0x168/0x1a0
 RSP: 0018:ffff9933c6c57bd0 EFLAGS: 00000246
 RAX: 000000000000003e RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffff88f61fc5c9c8
 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000027 RDI: ffff88f61fc5c9c0
 RBP: ffffcd7c446b0000 R08: ffffffff9a9405f0 R09: 0000000000005492
 R10: 00000000000030ea R11: ffffffff9a9405f0 R12: 0000000000000000
 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88e703c4ac00
 FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88f61fc40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 CR2: 000055f4da6e9878 CR3: 0000000c71048000 CR4: 00000000000006f0
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  do_shrink_slab+0x14f/0x6a0
  shrink_slab+0xca/0x8c0
  shrink_node+0x2d0/0x7d0
  balance_pgdat+0x33a/0x720
  kswapd+0x1f3/0x410
  kthread+0xd5/0x100
  ret_from_fork+0x2f/0x50
  ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
  </TASK>
 Modules linked in: mce_inject hwpoison_inject
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
 RIP: 0010:shrink_huge_zero_page_scan+0x168/0x1a0
 RSP: 0018:ffff9933c6c57bd0 EFLAGS: 00000246
 RAX: 000000000000003e RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffff88f61fc5c9c8
 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000027 RDI: ffff88f61fc5c9c0
 RBP: ffffcd7c446b0000 R08: ffffffff9a9405f0 R09: 0000000000005492
 R10: 00000000000030ea R11: ffffffff9a9405f0 R12: 0000000000000000
 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88e703c4ac00
 FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88f61fc40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 CR2: 000055f4da6e9878 CR3: 0000000c71048000 CR4: 00000000000006f0

The root cause is that HWPoison flag will be set for huge_zero_folio
without increasing the folio refcnt.  But then unpoison_memory() will
decrease the folio refcnt unexpectedly as it appears like a successfully
hwpoisoned folio leading to VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(page_ref_count(page) == 0) when
releasing huge_zero_folio.

Skip unpoisoning huge_zero_folio in unpoison_memory() to fix this issue. 
We're not prepared to unpoison huge_zero_folio yet.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-40914?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-40914?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-40914 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-40914 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-2024-40914 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-40914 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jul 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-2024-40914 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-2024-40914/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40914/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-40914
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-40914
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-40914

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40914/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.