# CVE-2024-50037: drm/fbdev-dma: Only cleanup deferred I/O if necessary

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's DRM fbdev-dma driver can cause a system crash during shutdown.

- **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:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-50037, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50037, GHSA-v5qc-hcqh-g75g, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50037

## What is CVE-2024-50037?

CVE-2024-50037 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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/fbdev-dma: Only cleanup deferred I/O if necessary

Commit 5a498d4d06d6 ("drm/fbdev-dma: Only install deferred I/O if
necessary") initializes deferred I/O only if it is used.
drm_fbdev_dma_fb_destroy() however calls fb_deferred_io_cleanup()
unconditionally with struct fb_info.fbdefio == NULL. KASAN with the
out-of-tree Apple silicon display driver posts following warning from
__flush_work() of a random struct work_struct instead of the expected
NULL pointer derefs.

[   22.053799] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[   22.054832] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 1 at kernel/workqueue.c:4177 __flush_work+0x4d8/0x580
[   22.056597] Modules linked in: uhid bnep uinput nls_ascii ip6_tables ip_tables i2c_dev loop fuse dm_multipath nfnetlink zram hid_magicmouse btrfs xor xor_neon brcmfmac_wcc raid6_pq hci_bcm4377 bluetooth brcmfmac hid_apple brcmutil nvmem_spmi_mfd simple_mfd_spmi dockchannel_hid cfg80211 joydev regmap_spmi nvme_apple ecdh_generic ecc macsmc_hid rfkill dwc3 appledrm snd_soc_macaudio macsmc_power nvme_core apple_isp phy_apple_atc apple_sart apple_rtkit_helper apple_dockchannel tps6598x macsmc_hwmon snd_soc_cs42l84 videobuf2_v4l2 spmi_apple_controller nvmem_apple_efuses videobuf2_dma_sg apple_z2 videobuf2_memops spi_nor panel_summit videobuf2_common asahi videodev pwm_apple apple_dcp snd_soc_apple_mca apple_admac spi_apple clk_apple_nco i2c_pasemi_platform snd_pcm_dmaengine mc i2c_pasemi_core mux_core ofpart adpdrm drm_dma_helper apple_dart apple_soc_cpufreq leds_pwm phram
[   22.073768] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd-shutdow Not tainted 6.11.2-asahi+ #asahi-dev
[   22.075612] Hardware name: Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022) (DT)
[   22.077032] pstate: 01400005 (nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[   22.078567] pc : __flush_work+0x4d8/0x580
[   22.079471] lr : __flush_work+0x54/0x580
[   22.080345] sp : ffffc000836ef820
[   22.081089] x29: ffffc000836ef880 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff80002ddb7128
[   22.082678] x26: dfffc00000000000 x25: 1ffff000096f0c57 x24: ffffc00082d3e358
[   22.084263] x23: ffff80004b7862b8 x22: dfffc00000000000 x21: ffff80005aa1d470
[   22.085855] x20: ffff80004b786000 x19: ffff80004b7862a0 x18: 0000000000000000
[   22.087439] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000005
[   22.089030] x14: 1ffff800106ddf0a x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
[   22.090618] x11: ffffb800106ddf0f x10: dfffc00000000000 x9 : 1ffff800106ddf0e
[   22.092206] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa x6 : 0000000000000001
[   22.093790] x5 : ffffc000836ef728 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000020
[   22.095368] x2 : 0000000000000008 x1 : 00000000000000aa x0 : 0000000000000000
[   22.096955] Call trace:
[   22.097505]  __flush_work+0x4d8/0x580
[   22.098330]  flush_delayed_work+0x80/0xb8
[   22.099231]  fb_deferred_io_cleanup+0x3c/0x130
[   22.100217]  drm_fbdev_dma_fb_destroy+0x6c/0xe0 [drm_dma_helper]
[   22.101559]  unregister_framebuffer+0x210/0x2f0
[   22.102575]  drm_fb_helper_unregister_info+0x48/0x60
[   22.103683]  drm_fbdev_dma_client_unregister+0x4c/0x80 [drm_dma_helper]
[   22.105147]  drm_client_dev_unregister+0x1cc/0x230
[   22.106217]  drm_dev_unregister+0x58/0x570
[   22.107125]  apple_drm_unbind+0x50/0x98 [appledrm]
[   22.108199]  component_del+0x1f8/0x3a8
[   22.109042]  dcp_platform_shutdown+0x24/0x38 [apple_dcp]
[   22.110357]  platform_shutdown+0x70/0x90
[   22.111219]  device_shutdown+0x368/0x4d8
[   22.112095]  kernel_restart+0x6c/0x1d0
[   22.112946]  __arm64_sys_reboot+0x1c8/0x328
[   22.113868]  invoke_syscall+0x78/0x1a8
[   22.114703]  do_el0_svc+0x124/0x1a0
[   22.115498]  el0_svc+0x3c/0xe0
[   22.116181]  el0t_64_sync_handler+0x70/0xc0
[   22.117110]  el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x198
[   22.117931] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50037?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-50037?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-50037 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50037 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-2024-50037 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-50037 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 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-2024-50037 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-2024-50037/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50037/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-50037
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50037
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-50037

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50037/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
