# CVE-2024-53181: um: vector: Do not use drvdata in release

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's vector driver causes a crash when removing a device, 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:** 27 Dec 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-53181, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53181, GHSA-88cq-qg58-jw23, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53181

## What is CVE-2024-53181?

CVE-2024-53181 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

um: vector: Do not use drvdata in release

The drvdata is not available in release. Let's just use container_of()
to get the vector_device instance. Otherwise, removing a vector device
will result in a crash:

RIP: 0033:vector_device_release+0xf/0x50
RSP: 00000000e187bc40  EFLAGS: 00010202
RAX: 0000000060028f61 RBX: 00000000600f1baf RCX: 00000000620074e0
RDX: 000000006220b9c0 RSI: 0000000060551c80 RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: 00000000e187bc50 R08: 00000000603ad594 R09: 00000000e187bb70
R10: 000000000000135a R11: 00000000603ad422 R12: 00000000623ae028
R13: 000000006287a200 R14: 0000000062006d30 R15: 00000000623700b6
Kernel panic - not syncing: Segfault with no mm
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 16 Comm: kworker/0:1 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc6-g59b723cd2adb #1
Workqueue: events mc_work_proc
Stack:
 60028f61 623ae028 e187bc80 60276fcd
 6220b9c0 603f5820 623ae028 00000000
 e187bcb0 603a2bcd 623ae000 62370010
Call Trace:
 [<60028f61>] ? vector_device_release+0x0/0x50
 [<60276fcd>] device_release+0x70/0xba
 [<603a2bcd>] kobject_put+0xba/0xe7
 [<60277265>] put_device+0x19/0x1c
 [<60281266>] platform_device_put+0x26/0x29
 [<60281e5f>] platform_device_unregister+0x2c/0x2e
 [<60029422>] vector_remove+0x52/0x58
 [<60031316>] ? mconsole_reply+0x0/0x50
 [<600310c8>] mconsole_remove+0x160/0x1cc
 [<603b19f4>] ? strlen+0x0/0x15
 [<60066611>] ? __dequeue_entity+0x1a9/0x206
 [<600666a7>] ? set_next_entity+0x39/0x63
 [<6006666e>] ? set_next_entity+0x0/0x63
 [<60038fa6>] ? um_set_signals+0x0/0x43
 [<6003070c>] mc_work_proc+0x77/0x91
 [<60057664>] process_scheduled_works+0x1b3/0x2dd
 [<60055f32>] ? assign_work+0x0/0x58
 [<60057f0a>] worker_thread+0x1e9/0x293
 [<6005406f>] ? set_pf_worker+0x0/0x64
 [<6005d65d>] ? arch_local_irq_save+0x0/0x2d
 [<6005d748>] ? kthread_exit+0x0/0x3a
 [<60057d21>] ? worker_thread+0x0/0x293
 [<6005dbf1>] kthread+0x126/0x12b
 [<600219c5>] new_thread_handler+0x85/0xb6

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53181?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-53181?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-53181 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53181 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-2024-53181 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-53181 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2024-53181 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-2024-53181/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53181/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53181
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53181
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-53181

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53181/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.