# CVE-2024-50278: dm cache: fix potential out-of-bounds access on the first resume

> A local attacker can trigger an out-of-bounds memory access in the Linux kernel dm cache module, potentially causing a system crash or arbitrary code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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:** 19 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-53667, BELL-CVE-2024-50278, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50278, GHSA-6fxv-v3gm-9m2r, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50278

## What is CVE-2024-50278?

CVE-2024-50278 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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:

dm cache: fix potential out-of-bounds access on the first resume

Out-of-bounds access occurs if the fast device is expanded unexpectedly
before the first-time resume of the cache table. This happens because
expanding the fast device requires reloading the cache table for
cache_create to allocate new in-core data structures that fit the new
size, and the check in cache_preresume is not performed during the
first resume, leading to the issue.

Reproduce steps:

1. prepare component devices:

dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0"
dmsetup create cdata --table "0 65536 linear /dev/sdc 8192"
dmsetup create corig --table "0 524288 linear /dev/sdc 262144"
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/cmeta bs=4k count=1 oflag=direct

2. load a cache table of 512 cache blocks, and deliberately expand the
   fast device before resuming the cache, making the in-core data
   structures inadequate.

dmsetup create cache --notable
dmsetup reload cache --table "0 524288 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 writethrough smq 0"
dmsetup reload cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192"
dmsetup resume cdata
dmsetup resume cache

3. suspend the cache to write out the in-core dirty bitset and hint
   array, leading to out-of-bounds access to the dirty bitset at offset
   0x40:

dmsetup suspend cache

KASAN reports:

  BUG: KASAN: vmalloc-out-of-bounds in is_dirty_callback+0x2b/0x80
  Read of size 8 at addr ffffc90000085040 by task dmsetup/90

  (...snip...)
  The buggy address belongs to the virtual mapping at
   [ffffc90000085000, ffffc90000087000) created by:
   cache_ctr+0x176a/0x35f0

  (...snip...)
  Memory state around the buggy address:
   ffffc90000084f00: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8
   ffffc90000084f80: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8
  >ffffc90000085000: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8
                                             ^
   ffffc90000085080: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8
   ffffc90000085100: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8

Fix by checking the size change on the first resume.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50278?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-50278?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-50278 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50278 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-2024-50278 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-50278 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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-2024-50278 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-2024-50278/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50278/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-50278
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50278
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-50278

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50278/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.