# CVE-2024-40948: mm/page_table_check: fix crash on ZONE_DEVICE

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel page table checker causes a crash when mapping ZONE_DEVICE pages, 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:** BELL-CVE-2024-40948, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40948, GHSA-5jwr-2vm6-6gqr, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-40948

## What is CVE-2024-40948?

CVE-2024-40948 is a medium-severity 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/page_table_check: fix crash on ZONE_DEVICE

Not all pages may apply to pgtable check.  One example is ZONE_DEVICE
pages: they map PFNs directly, and they don't allocate page_ext at all
even if there's struct page around.  One may reference
devm_memremap_pages().

When both ZONE_DEVICE and page-table-check enabled, then try to map some
dax memories, one can trigger kernel bug constantly now when the kernel
was trying to inject some pfn maps on the dax device:

 kernel BUG at mm/page_table_check.c:55!

While it's pretty legal to use set_pxx_at() for ZONE_DEVICE pages for page
fault resolutions, skip all the checks if page_ext doesn't even exist in
pgtable checker, which applies to ZONE_DEVICE but maybe more.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-40948?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-40948?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-40948 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-40948 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-2024-40948 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-40948 is a medium-severity 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-2024-40948 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-2024-40948/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40948/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-40948
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-40948
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-40948

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40948/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.