CVE-2024-41094 drm/fbdev-dma: Only set smem_start is enable per module option

What is CVE-2024-41094?

CVE-2024-41094 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 29 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:

drm/fbdev-dma: Only set smem_start is enable per module option

Only export struct fb_info.fix.smem_start if that is required by the user and the memory does not come from vmalloc().

Setting struct fb_info.fix.smem_start breaks systems where DMA memory is backed by vmalloc address space. An example error is shown below.

[ 3.536043] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 3.540716] virt_to_phys used for non-linear address: 000000007fc4f540 (0xffff800086001000) [ 3.552628] WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 61 at arch/arm64/mm/physaddr.c:12 __virt_to_phys+0x68/0x98 [ 3.565455] Modules linked in: [ 3.568525] CPU: 4 PID: 61 Comm: kworker/u12:5 Not tainted 6.6.23-06226-g4986cc3e1b75-dirty #250 [ 3.577310] Hardware name: NXP i.MX95 19X19 board (DT) [ 3.582452] Workqueue: events_unbound deferred_probe_work_func [ 3.588291] pstate: 60400009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 3.595233] pc : __virt_to_phys+0x68/0x98 [ 3.599246] lr : __virt_to_phys+0x68/0x98 [ 3.603276] sp : ffff800083603990 [ 3.677939] Call trace: [ 3.680393] __virt_to_phys+0x68/0x98 [ 3.684067] drm_fbdev_dma_helper_fb_probe+0x138/0x238 [ 3.689214] __drm_fb_helper_initial_config_and_unlock+0x2b0/0x4c0 [ 3.695385] drm_fb_helper_initial_config+0x4c/0x68 [ 3.700264] drm_fbdev_dma_client_hotplug+0x8c/0xe0 [ 3.705161] drm_client_register+0x60/0xb0 [ 3.709269] drm_fbdev_dma_setup+0x94/0x148

Additionally, DMA memory is assumed to by contiguous in physical address space, which is not guaranteed by vmalloc().

Resolve this by checking the module flag drm_leak_fbdev_smem when DRM allocated the instance of struct fb_info. Fbdev-dma then only sets smem_start only if required (via FBINFO_HIDE_SMEM_START). Also guarantee that the framebuffer is not located in vmalloc address space.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-41094?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-41094?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2024-41094 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-41094 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-41094, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-41094, GHSA-54p6-r4cp-p6qq, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-41094.