# CVE-2024-44976: ata: pata_macio: Fix DMA table overflow

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash in the pata_macio driver by triggering a DMA table overflow, requiring specific non-default storage configuration settings.

- **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-2024-44976, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-44976, GHSA-53vj-vrwf-hv43, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-44976

## What is CVE-2024-44976?

CVE-2024-44976 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:

ata: pata_macio: Fix DMA table overflow

Kolbjørn and Jonáš reported that their 32-bit PowerMacs were crashing
in pata-macio since commit 09fe2bfa6b83 ("ata: pata_macio: Fix
max_segment_size with PAGE_SIZE == 64K").

For example:

  kernel BUG at drivers/ata/pata_macio.c:544!
  Oops: Exception in kernel mode, sig: 5 [#1]
  BE PAGE_SIZE=4K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2 DEBUG_PAGEALLOC PowerMac
  ...
  NIP pata_macio_qc_prep+0xf4/0x190
  LR  pata_macio_qc_prep+0xfc/0x190
  Call Trace:
    0xc1421660 (unreliable)
    ata_qc_issue+0x14c/0x2d4
    __ata_scsi_queuecmd+0x200/0x53c
    ata_scsi_queuecmd+0x50/0xe0
    scsi_queue_rq+0x788/0xb1c
    __blk_mq_issue_directly+0x58/0xf4
    blk_mq_plug_issue_direct+0x8c/0x1b4
    blk_mq_flush_plug_list.part.0+0x584/0x5e0
    __blk_flush_plug+0xf8/0x194
    __submit_bio+0x1b8/0x2e0
    submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x230/0x304
    btrfs_work_helper+0x200/0x338
    process_one_work+0x1a8/0x338
    worker_thread+0x364/0x4c0
    kthread+0x100/0x104
    start_kernel_thread+0x10/0x14

That commit increased max_segment_size to 64KB, with the justification
that the SCSI core was already using that size when PAGE_SIZE == 64KB,
and that there was existing logic to split over-sized requests.

However with a sufficiently large request, the splitting logic causes
each sg to be split into two commands in the DMA table, leading to
overflow of the DMA table, triggering the BUG_ON().

With default settings the bug doesn't trigger, because the request size
is limited by max_sectors_kb == 1280, however max_sectors_kb can be
increased, and apparently some distros do that by default using udev
rules.

Fix the bug for 4KB kernels by reverting to the old max_segment_size.

For 64KB kernels the sg_tablesize needs to be halved, to allow for the
possibility that each sg will be split into two.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-44976?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-44976?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-44976 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-44976 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-2024-44976 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-44976 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-2024-44976 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-2024-44976/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44976/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-44976
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-44976
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-44976

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-44976/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.