# CVE-2024-40915: riscv: rewrite __kernel_map_pages() to fix sleeping in invalid context > A bug in the Linux kernel's RISC-V memory debugging function causes a kernel panic when called in atomic context, leading to 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:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-67449, BELL-CVE-2024-40915, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40915, GHSA-cxf4-996m-v4m3, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-40915, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-40915 ## What is CVE-2024-40915? CVE-2024-40915 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: riscv: rewrite __kernel_map_pages() to fix sleeping in invalid context __kernel_map_pages() is a debug function which clears the valid bit in page table entry for deallocated pages to detect illegal memory accesses to freed pages. This function set/clear the valid bit using __set_memory(). __set_memory() acquires init_mm's semaphore, and this operation may sleep. This is problematic, because __kernel_map_pages() can be called in atomic context, and thus is illegal to sleep. An example warning that this causes: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1578 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 2, name: kthreadd preempt_count: 2, expected: 0 CPU: 0 PID: 2 Comm: kthreadd Not tainted 6.9.0-g1d4c6d784ef6 #37 Hardware name: riscv-virtio,qemu (DT) Call Trace: [] dump_backtrace+0x1c/0x24 [] show_stack+0x2c/0x38 [] dump_stack_lvl+0x5a/0x72 [] dump_stack+0x14/0x1c [] __might_resched+0x104/0x10e [] __might_sleep+0x3e/0x62 [] down_write+0x20/0x72 [] __set_memory+0x82/0x2fa [] __kernel_map_pages+0x5a/0xd4 [] __alloc_pages_bulk+0x3b2/0x43a [] __vmalloc_node_range+0x196/0x6ba [] copy_process+0x72c/0x17ec [] kernel_clone+0x60/0x2fe [] kernel_thread+0x82/0xa0 [] kthreadd+0x14a/0x1be [] ret_from_fork+0xe/0x1c Rewrite this function with apply_to_existing_page_range(). It is fine to not have any locking, because __kernel_map_pages() works with pages being allocated/deallocated and those pages are not changed by anyone else in the meantime. Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-40915? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2024-40915? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2024-40915 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-40915 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-2024-40915 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2024-40915 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-2024-40915 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-2024-40915/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40915/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-40915 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-40915 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-40915 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40915/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.