# CVE-2024-53097: mm: krealloc: Fix MTE false alarm in __do_krealloc

> A false positive MTE error in the Linux kernel's krealloc function can cause a kernel panic, leading to 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:** 25 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-54635, BELL-CVE-2024-53097, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53097, GHSA-pg27-6936-jg2x, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53097

## What is CVE-2024-53097?

CVE-2024-53097 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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:

mm: krealloc: Fix MTE false alarm in __do_krealloc

This patch addresses an issue introduced by commit 1a83a716ec233 ("mm:
krealloc: consider spare memory for __GFP_ZERO") which causes MTE
(Memory Tagging Extension) to falsely report a slab-out-of-bounds error.

The problem occurs when zeroing out spare memory in __do_krealloc. The
original code only considered software-based KASAN and did not account
for MTE. It does not reset the KASAN tag before calling memset, leading
to a mismatch between the pointer tag and the memory tag, resulting
in a false positive.

Example of the error:
==================================================================
swapper/0: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in __memset+0x84/0x188
swapper/0: Write at addr f4ffff8005f0fdf0 by task swapper/0/1
swapper/0: Pointer tag: [f4], memory tag: [fe]
swapper/0:
swapper/0: CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.12.
swapper/0: Hardware name: MT6991(ENG) (DT)
swapper/0: Call trace:
swapper/0:  dump_backtrace+0xfc/0x17c
swapper/0:  show_stack+0x18/0x28
swapper/0:  dump_stack_lvl+0x40/0xa0
swapper/0:  print_report+0x1b8/0x71c
swapper/0:  kasan_report+0xec/0x14c
swapper/0:  __do_kernel_fault+0x60/0x29c
swapper/0:  do_bad_area+0x30/0xdc
swapper/0:  do_tag_check_fault+0x20/0x34
swapper/0:  do_mem_abort+0x58/0x104
swapper/0:  el1_abort+0x3c/0x5c
swapper/0:  el1h_64_sync_handler+0x80/0xcc
swapper/0:  el1h_64_sync+0x68/0x6c
swapper/0:  __memset+0x84/0x188
swapper/0:  btf_populate_kfunc_set+0x280/0x3d8
swapper/0:  __register_btf_kfunc_id_set+0x43c/0x468
swapper/0:  register_btf_kfunc_id_set+0x48/0x60
swapper/0:  register_nf_nat_bpf+0x1c/0x40
swapper/0:  nf_nat_init+0xc0/0x128
swapper/0:  do_one_initcall+0x184/0x464
swapper/0:  do_initcall_level+0xdc/0x1b0
swapper/0:  do_initcalls+0x70/0xc0
swapper/0:  do_basic_setup+0x1c/0x28
swapper/0:  kernel_init_freeable+0x144/0x1b8
swapper/0:  kernel_init+0x20/0x1a8
swapper/0:  ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
==================================================================

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53097?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-53097?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-53097 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53097 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-2024-53097 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-53097 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2024-53097 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-2024-53097/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53097/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53097
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53097
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-53097

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53097/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.