# CVE-2024-53105: mm: page_alloc: move mlocked flag clearance into free_pages_prepare()

> A Linux kernel bug in page allocation allows a local attacker to trigger a bad page state, causing a system crash.

- **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:** 2 Dec 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-53105, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53105, GHSA-h3v5-36cc-xmc7, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53105

## What is CVE-2024-53105?

CVE-2024-53105 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Dec 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: page_alloc: move mlocked flag clearance into free_pages_prepare()

Syzbot reported a bad page state problem caused by a page being freed
using free_page() still having a mlocked flag at free_pages_prepare()
stage:

  BUG: Bad page state in process syz.5.504  pfn:61f45
  page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x61f45
  flags: 0xfff00000080204(referenced|workingset|mlocked|node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x7ff)
  raw: 00fff00000080204 0000000000000000 dead000000000122 0000000000000000
  raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000
  page dumped because: PAGE_FLAGS_CHECK_AT_FREE flag(s) set
  page_owner tracks the page as allocated
  page last allocated via order 0, migratetype Unmovable, gfp_mask 0x400dc0(GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT|__GFP_ZERO), pid 8443, tgid 8442 (syz.5.504), ts 201884660643, free_ts 201499827394
   set_page_owner include/linux/page_owner.h:32 [inline]
   post_alloc_hook+0x1f3/0x230 mm/page_alloc.c:1537
   prep_new_page mm/page_alloc.c:1545 [inline]
   get_page_from_freelist+0x303f/0x3190 mm/page_alloc.c:3457
   __alloc_pages_noprof+0x292/0x710 mm/page_alloc.c:4733
   alloc_pages_mpol_noprof+0x3e8/0x680 mm/mempolicy.c:2265
   kvm_coalesced_mmio_init+0x1f/0xf0 virt/kvm/coalesced_mmio.c:99
   kvm_create_vm virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1235 [inline]
   kvm_dev_ioctl_create_vm virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5488 [inline]
   kvm_dev_ioctl+0x12dc/0x2240 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5530
   __do_compat_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:1007 [inline]
   __se_compat_sys_ioctl+0x510/0xc90 fs/ioctl.c:950
   do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:165 [inline]
   __do_fast_syscall_32+0xb4/0x110 arch/x86/entry/common.c:386
   do_fast_syscall_32+0x34/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:411
   entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x84/0x8e
  page last free pid 8399 tgid 8399 stack trace:
   reset_page_owner include/linux/page_owner.h:25 [inline]
   free_pages_prepare mm/page_alloc.c:1108 [inline]
   free_unref_folios+0xf12/0x18d0 mm/page_alloc.c:2686
   folios_put_refs+0x76c/0x860 mm/swap.c:1007
   free_pages_and_swap_cache+0x5c8/0x690 mm/swap_state.c:335
   __tlb_batch_free_encoded_pages mm/mmu_gather.c:136 [inline]
   tlb_batch_pages_flush mm/mmu_gather.c:149 [inline]
   tlb_flush_mmu_free mm/mmu_gather.c:366 [inline]
   tlb_flush_mmu+0x3a3/0x680 mm/mmu_gather.c:373
   tlb_finish_mmu+0xd4/0x200 mm/mmu_gather.c:465
   exit_mmap+0x496/0xc40 mm/mmap.c:1926
   __mmput+0x115/0x390 kernel/fork.c:1348
   exit_mm+0x220/0x310 kernel/exit.c:571
   do_exit+0x9b2/0x28e0 kernel/exit.c:926
   do_group_exit+0x207/0x2c0 kernel/exit.c:1088
   __do_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1099 [inline]
   __se_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1097 [inline]
   __x64_sys_exit_group+0x3f/0x40 kernel/exit.c:1097
   x64_sys_call+0x2634/0x2640 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:232
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
  Modules linked in:
  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 8442 Comm: syz.5.504 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc6-syzkaller #0
  Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
   dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:120
   bad_page+0x176/0x1d0 mm/page_alloc.c:501
   free_page_is_bad mm/page_alloc.c:918 [inline]
   free_pages_prepare mm/page_alloc.c:1100 [inline]
   free_unref_page+0xed0/0xf20 mm/page_alloc.c:2638
   kvm_destroy_vm virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1327 [inline]
   kvm_put_kvm+0xc75/0x1350 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1386
   kvm_vcpu_release+0x54/0x60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4143
   __fput+0x23f/0x880 fs/file_table.c:431
   task_work_run+0x24f/0x310 kernel/task_work.c:239
   exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:43 [inline]
   do_exit+0xa2f/0x28e0 kernel/exit.c:939
   do_group_exit+0x207/0x2c0 kernel/exit.c:1088
   __do_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1099 [in
---truncated---

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53105?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-53105?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-53105 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53105 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-2024-53105 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-53105 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Dec 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-2024-53105 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-2024-53105/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53105/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53105
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53105
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-53105

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53105/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.