# CVE-2024-44968: tick/broadcast: Move per CPU pointer access into the atomic section

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's tick broadcast handling can cause a kernel bug and potential 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:** 4 Sep 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-44968, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-44968, GHSA-285g-gc96-4xjh, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-44968

## What is CVE-2024-44968?

CVE-2024-44968 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Sep 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:

tick/broadcast: Move per CPU pointer access into the atomic section

The recent fix for making the take over of the broadcast timer more
reliable retrieves a per CPU pointer in preemptible context.

This went unnoticed as compilers hoist the access into the non-preemptible
region where the pointer is actually used. But of course it's valid that
the compiler keeps it at the place where the code puts it which rightfully
triggers:

  BUG: using smp_processor_id() in preemptible [00000000] code:
       caller is hotplug_cpu__broadcast_tick_pull+0x1c/0xc0

Move it to the actual usage site which is in a non-preemptible region.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-44968?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-44968?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-44968 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-44968 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-2024-44968 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-44968 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Sep 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-2024-44968 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-2024-44968/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44968/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-44968
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-44968
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-44968

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44968/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.