# CVE-2024-53218: f2fs: fix race in concurrent f2fs_stop_gc_thread

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's f2fs filesystem allows a use-after-free during concurrent shutdown operations, potentially leading to system crashes or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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-2024-53218, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53218, GHSA-3gqx-rv8x-9m5c, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-53218, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-53218, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-53218, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53218

## What is CVE-2024-53218?

CVE-2024-53218 is a high-severity use after free 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:

f2fs: fix race in concurrent f2fs_stop_gc_thread

In my test case, concurrent calls to f2fs shutdown report the following
stack trace:

 Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xc6cfff63bb5513fc: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 678 Comm: f2fs_rep_shutdo Not tainted 6.12.0-rc5-next-20241029-g6fb2fa9805c5-dirty #85
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  ? show_regs+0x8b/0xa0
  ? __die_body+0x26/0xa0
  ? die_addr+0x54/0x90
  ? exc_general_protection+0x24b/0x5c0
  ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x26/0x30
  ? kthread_stop+0x46/0x390
  f2fs_stop_gc_thread+0x6c/0x110
  f2fs_do_shutdown+0x309/0x3a0
  f2fs_ioc_shutdown+0x150/0x1c0
  __f2fs_ioctl+0xffd/0x2ac0
  f2fs_ioctl+0x76/0xe0
  vfs_ioctl+0x23/0x60
  __x64_sys_ioctl+0xce/0xf0
  x64_sys_call+0x2b1b/0x4540
  do_syscall_64+0xa7/0x240
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

The root cause is a race condition in f2fs_stop_gc_thread() called from
different f2fs shutdown paths:

  [CPU0]                       [CPU1]
  ----------------------       -----------------------
  f2fs_stop_gc_thread          f2fs_stop_gc_thread
                                 gc_th = sbi->gc_thread
    gc_th = sbi->gc_thread
    kfree(gc_th)
    sbi->gc_thread = NULL
                                 < gc_th != NULL >
                                 kthread_stop(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task) //UAF

The commit c7f114d864ac ("f2fs: fix to avoid use-after-free in
f2fs_stop_gc_thread()") attempted to fix this issue by using a read
semaphore to prevent races between shutdown and remount threads, but
it fails to prevent all race conditions.

Fix it by converting to write lock of s_umount in f2fs_do_shutdown().

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53218?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-53218?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-53218 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53218 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-2024-53218 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-53218 is a high-severity use after free 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-2024-53218 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-2024-53218/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53218/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53218
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53218
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-53218

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53218/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.