# CVE-2024-44971: net: dsa: bcm_sf2: Fix a possible memory leak in bcm_sf2_mdio_register()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Broadcom SF2 DSA driver can lead to resource exhaustion and 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:** AZL-48653, BELL-CVE-2024-44971, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-44971, GHSA-xqr4-wc4c-36xj, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-44971

## What is CVE-2024-44971?

CVE-2024-44971 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

net: dsa: bcm_sf2: Fix a possible memory leak in bcm_sf2_mdio_register()

bcm_sf2_mdio_register() calls of_phy_find_device() and then
phy_device_remove() in a loop to remove existing PHY devices.
of_phy_find_device() eventually calls bus_find_device(), which calls
get_device() on the returned struct device * to increment the refcount.
The current implementation does not decrement the refcount, which causes
memory leak.

This commit adds the missing phy_device_free() call to decrement the
refcount via put_device() to balance the refcount.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-44971?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-44971?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-44971 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-44971 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-2024-44971 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-44971 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2024-44971 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-2024-44971/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44971/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-44971
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-44971
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-44971

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44971/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.