# CVE-2024-56560: slab: Fix too strict alignment check in create_cache()

> A strict alignment check in the Linux kernel slab allocator causes a kernel panic on m68k architectures, leading to a 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-2024-56560, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56560, GHSA-2j8j-3mm8-v4qx, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56560

## What is CVE-2024-56560?

CVE-2024-56560 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

slab: Fix too strict alignment check in create_cache()

On m68k, where the minimum alignment of unsigned long is 2 bytes:

    Kernel panic - not syncing: __kmem_cache_create_args: Failed to create slab 'io_kiocb'. Error -22
    CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper Not tainted 6.12.0-atari-03776-g7eaa1f99261a #1783
    Stack from 0102fe5c:
	    0102fe5c 00514a2b 00514a2b ffffff00 00000001 0051f5ed 00425e78 00514a2b
	    0041eb74 ffffffea 00000310 0051f5ed ffffffea ffffffea 00601f60 00000044
	    0102ff20 000e7a68 0051ab8e 004383b8 0051f5ed ffffffea 000000b8 00000007
	    01020c00 00000000 000e77f0 0041e5f0 005f67c0 0051f5ed 000000b6 0102fef4
	    00000310 0102fef4 00000000 00000016 005f676c 0060a34c 00000010 00000004
	    00000038 0000009a 01000000 000000b8 005f668e 0102e000 00001372 0102ff88
    Call Trace: [<00425e78>] dump_stack+0xc/0x10
     [<0041eb74>] panic+0xd8/0x26c
     [<000e7a68>] __kmem_cache_create_args+0x278/0x2e8
     [<000e77f0>] __kmem_cache_create_args+0x0/0x2e8
     [<0041e5f0>] memset+0x0/0x8c
     [<005f67c0>] io_uring_init+0x54/0xd2

The minimal alignment of an integral type may differ from its size,
hence is not safe to assume that an arbitrary freeptr_t (which is
basically an unsigned long) is always aligned to 4 or 8 bytes.

As nothing seems to require the additional alignment, it is safe to fix
this by relaxing the check to the actual minimum alignment of freeptr_t.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56560?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-56560?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-56560 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56560 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-2024-56560 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-56560 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2024-56560 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-2024-56560/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56560/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56560
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56560
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56560

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56560/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.