# CVE-2024-44943: mm: gup: stop abusing try_grab_folio

> A kernel warning triggered during SEV VM startup with CMA memory can lead to a denial of service condition.

- **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:** 28 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-44943, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-44943, GHSA-fgc5-qhj8-xm5g, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-44943

## What is CVE-2024-44943?

CVE-2024-44943 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 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: gup: stop abusing try_grab_folio

A kernel warning was reported when pinning folio in CMA memory when
launching SEV virtual machine.  The splat looks like:

[  464.325306] WARNING: CPU: 13 PID: 6734 at mm/gup.c:1313 __get_user_pages+0x423/0x520
[  464.325464] CPU: 13 PID: 6734 Comm: qemu-kvm Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.6.33+ #6
[  464.325477] RIP: 0010:__get_user_pages+0x423/0x520
[  464.325515] Call Trace:
[  464.325520]  <TASK>
[  464.325523]  ? __get_user_pages+0x423/0x520
[  464.325528]  ? __warn+0x81/0x130
[  464.325536]  ? __get_user_pages+0x423/0x520
[  464.325541]  ? report_bug+0x171/0x1a0
[  464.325549]  ? handle_bug+0x3c/0x70
[  464.325554]  ? exc_invalid_op+0x17/0x70
[  464.325558]  ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20
[  464.325567]  ? __get_user_pages+0x423/0x520
[  464.325575]  __gup_longterm_locked+0x212/0x7a0
[  464.325583]  internal_get_user_pages_fast+0xfb/0x190
[  464.325590]  pin_user_pages_fast+0x47/0x60
[  464.325598]  sev_pin_memory+0xca/0x170 [kvm_amd]
[  464.325616]  sev_mem_enc_register_region+0x81/0x130 [kvm_amd]

Per the analysis done by yangge, when starting the SEV virtual machine, it
will call pin_user_pages_fast(..., FOLL_LONGTERM, ...) to pin the memory. 
But the page is in CMA area, so fast GUP will fail then fallback to the
slow path due to the longterm pinnalbe check in try_grab_folio().

The slow path will try to pin the pages then migrate them out of CMA area.
But the slow path also uses try_grab_folio() to pin the page, it will
also fail due to the same check then the above warning is triggered.

In addition, the try_grab_folio() is supposed to be used in fast path and
it elevates folio refcount by using add ref unless zero.  We are guaranteed
to have at least one stable reference in slow path, so the simple atomic add
could be used.  The performance difference should be trivial, but the
misuse may be confusing and misleading.

Redefined try_grab_folio() to try_grab_folio_fast(), and try_grab_page()
to try_grab_folio(), and use them in the proper paths.  This solves both
the abuse and the kernel warning.

The proper naming makes their usecase more clear and should prevent from
abusing in the future.

peterx said:

: The user will see the pin fails, for gpu-slow it further triggers the WARN
: right below that failure (as in the original report):
: 
:         folio = try_grab_folio(page, page_increm - 1,
:                                 foll_flags);
:         if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!folio)) { <------------------------ here
:                 /*
:                         * Release the 1st page ref if the
:                         * folio is problematic, fail hard.
:                         */
:                 gup_put_folio(page_folio(page), 1,
:                                 foll_flags);
:                 ret = -EFAULT;
:                 goto out;
:         }

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/1719478388-31917-1-git-send-email-yangge1116@126.com/

[shy828301@gmail.com: fix implicit declaration of function try_grab_folio_fast]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-44943?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-44943?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-44943 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-44943 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-2024-44943 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-44943 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 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-2024-44943 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-2024-44943/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44943/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-44943
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-44943
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-44943

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44943/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.