# CVE-2024-50210: posix-clock: posix-clock: Fix unbalanced locking in pc_clock_settime()

> A locking imbalance in the Linux kernel posix-clock subsystem can lead to a deadlock, causing a 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:** 8 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-50210, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50210, GHSA-975c-w82q-mxhv, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50210

## What is CVE-2024-50210?

CVE-2024-50210 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 Nov 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:

posix-clock: posix-clock: Fix unbalanced locking in pc_clock_settime()

If get_clock_desc() succeeds, it calls fget() for the clockid's fd,
and get the clk->rwsem read lock, so the error path should release
the lock to make the lock balance and fput the clockid's fd to make
the refcount balance and release the fd related resource.

However the below commit left the error path locked behind resulting in
unbalanced locking. Check timespec64_valid_strict() before
get_clock_desc() to fix it, because the "ts" is not changed
after that.

[pabeni@redhat.com: fixed commit message typo]

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50210?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-50210?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-50210 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50210 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-2024-50210 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-50210 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 Nov 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-2024-50210 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-2024-50210/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50210/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-50210
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50210
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-50210

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50210/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.