# CVE-2024-42317: mm/huge_memory: avoid PMD-size page cache if needed

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel warning and potential instability by exploiting a page cache size limitation in the Linux kernel's huge memory management on ARM64 systems.

- **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:** 17 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-62726, BELL-CVE-2024-42317, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-42317, GHSA-rwv8-fgrm-jqjg, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-42317, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-42317

## What is CVE-2024-42317?

CVE-2024-42317 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 Aug 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: avoid PMD-size page cache if needed

xarray can't support arbitrary page cache size.  the largest and supported
page cache size is defined as MAX_PAGECACHE_ORDER by commit 099d90642a71
("mm/filemap: make MAX_PAGECACHE_ORDER acceptable to xarray").  However,
it's possible to have 512MB page cache in the huge memory's collapsing
path on ARM64 system whose base page size is 64KB.  512MB page cache is
breaking the limitation and a warning is raised when the xarray entry is
split as shown in the following example.

[root@dhcp-10-26-1-207 ~]# cat /proc/1/smaps | grep KernelPageSize
KernelPageSize:       64 kB
[root@dhcp-10-26-1-207 ~]# cat /tmp/test.c
   :
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
	const char *filename = TEST_XFS_FILENAME;
	int fd = 0;
	void *buf = (void *)-1, *p;
	int pgsize = getpagesize();
	int ret = 0;

	if (pgsize != 0x10000) {
		fprintf(stdout, "System with 64KB base page size is required!\n");
		return -EPERM;
	}

	system("echo 0 > /sys/devices/virtual/bdi/253:0/read_ahead_kb");
	system("echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches");

	/* Open the xfs file */
	fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY);
	assert(fd > 0);

	/* Create VMA */
	buf = mmap(NULL, TEST_MEM_SIZE, PROT_READ, MAP_SHARED, fd, 0);
	assert(buf != (void *)-1);
	fprintf(stdout, "mapped buffer at 0x%p\n", buf);

	/* Populate VMA */
	ret = madvise(buf, TEST_MEM_SIZE, MADV_NOHUGEPAGE);
	assert(ret == 0);
	ret = madvise(buf, TEST_MEM_SIZE, MADV_POPULATE_READ);
	assert(ret == 0);

	/* Collapse VMA */
	ret = madvise(buf, TEST_MEM_SIZE, MADV_HUGEPAGE);
	assert(ret == 0);
	ret = madvise(buf, TEST_MEM_SIZE, MADV_COLLAPSE);
	if (ret) {
		fprintf(stdout, "Error %d to madvise(MADV_COLLAPSE)\n", errno);
		goto out;
	}

	/* Split xarray entry. Write permission is needed */
	munmap(buf, TEST_MEM_SIZE);
	buf = (void *)-1;
	close(fd);
	fd = open(filename, O_RDWR);
	assert(fd > 0);
	fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE | FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE,
 		  TEST_MEM_SIZE - pgsize, pgsize);
out:
	if (buf != (void *)-1)
		munmap(buf, TEST_MEM_SIZE);
	if (fd > 0)
		close(fd);

	return ret;
}

[root@dhcp-10-26-1-207 ~]# gcc /tmp/test.c -o /tmp/test
[root@dhcp-10-26-1-207 ~]# /tmp/test
 ------------[ cut here ]------------
 WARNING: CPU: 25 PID: 7560 at lib/xarray.c:1025 xas_split_alloc+0xf8/0x128
 Modules linked in: nft_fib_inet nft_fib_ipv4 nft_fib_ipv6 nft_fib    \
 nft_reject_inet nf_reject_ipv4 nf_reject_ipv6 nft_reject nft_ct      \
 nft_chain_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4      \
 ip_set rfkill nf_tables nfnetlink vfat fat virtio_balloon drm fuse   \
 xfs libcrc32c crct10dif_ce ghash_ce sha2_ce sha256_arm64 virtio_net  \
 sha1_ce net_failover virtio_blk virtio_console failover dimlib virtio_mmio
 CPU: 25 PID: 7560 Comm: test Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.10.0-rc7-gavin+ #9
 Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS edk2-20240524-1.el9 05/24/2024
 pstate: 83400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO +TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
 pc : xas_split_alloc+0xf8/0x128
 lr : split_huge_page_to_list_to_order+0x1c4/0x780
 sp : ffff8000ac32f660
 x29: ffff8000ac32f660 x28: ffff0000e0969eb0 x27: ffff8000ac32f6c0
 x26: 0000000000000c40 x25: ffff0000e0969eb0 x24: 000000000000000d
 x23: ffff8000ac32f6c0 x22: ffffffdfc0700000 x21: 0000000000000000
 x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffffffdfc0700000 x18: 0000000000000000
 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffffd5f3708ffc70 x15: 0000000000000000
 x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
 x11: ffffffffffffffc0 x10: 0000000000000040 x9 : ffffd5f3708e692c
 x8 : 0000000000000003 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : ffff0000e0969eb8
 x5 : ffffd5f37289e378 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000c40
 x2 : 000000000000000d x1 : 000000000000000c x0 : 0000000000000000
 Call trace:
  xas_split_alloc+0xf8/0x128
  split_huge_page_to_list_to_order+0x1c4/0x780
  truncate_inode_partial_folio+0xdc/0x160
  truncate_inode_pages_range+0x1b4/0x4a8
  truncate_pagecache_range+0x84/0xa
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-42317?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-42317?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-42317 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-42317 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-2024-42317 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-42317 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 Aug 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-2024-42317 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-2024-42317/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42317/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-42317
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42317
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-42317

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42317/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.