# CVE-2024-46709: drm/vmwgfx: Fix prime with external buffers

> A null pointer dereference in the vmwgfx driver causes system crashes when handling external buffers, primarily affecting test environments.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 13 Sep 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-46709, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-46709, GHSA-jc54-wrqp-vxf4, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-46709

## What is CVE-2024-46709?

CVE-2024-46709 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 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:

drm/vmwgfx: Fix prime with external buffers

Make sure that for external buffers mapping goes through the dma_buf
interface instead of trying to access pages directly.

External buffers might not provide direct access to readable/writable
pages so to make sure the bo's created from external dma_bufs can be
read dma_buf interface has to be used.

Fixes crashes in IGT's kms_prime with vgem. Regular desktop usage won't
trigger this due to the fact that virtual machines will not have
multiple GPUs but it enables better test coverage in IGT.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-46709?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-46709?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-46709 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-46709 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-2024-46709 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-46709 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 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-2024-46709 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-2024-46709/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-46709/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-46709
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-46709
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-46709

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-46709/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.