# CVE-2024-53084: drm/imagination: Break an object reference loop

> A reference loop in the Imagination DRM driver causes memory leaks during cleanup, potentially leading to resource exhaustion and 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:** 19 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-53831, AZL-53948, BELL-CVE-2024-53084, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53084, GHSA-7mjf-5rrm-399r, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-53084, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53084

## What is CVE-2024-53084?

CVE-2024-53084 is a medium-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:

drm/imagination: Break an object reference loop

When remaining resources are being cleaned up on driver close,
outstanding VM mappings may result in resources being leaked, due
to an object reference loop, as shown below, with each object (or
set of objects) referencing the object below it:

    PVR GEM Object
    GPU scheduler "finished" fence
    GPU scheduler “scheduled” fence
    PVR driver “done” fence
    PVR Context
    PVR VM Context
    PVR VM Mappings
    PVR GEM Object

The reference that the PVR VM Context has on the VM mappings is a
soft one, in the sense that the freeing of outstanding VM mappings
is done as part of VM context destruction; no reference counts are
involved, as is the case for all the other references in the loop.

To break the reference loop during cleanup, free the outstanding
VM mappings before destroying the PVR Context associated with the
VM context.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53084?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-53084?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-53084 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53084 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-2024-53084 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-53084 is a medium-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-2024-53084 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-2024-53084/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53084/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53084
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53084
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-53084

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53084/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.