# CVE-2024-56568: iommu/arm-smmu: Defer probe of clients after smmu device bound

> A race condition in the Linux kernel ARM SMMU driver causes a null pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** AZL-56274, AZL-56312, BELL-CVE-2024-56568, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56568, GHSA-mfcg-4w9q-f9mr, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56568

## What is CVE-2024-56568?

CVE-2024-56568 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:

iommu/arm-smmu: Defer probe of clients after smmu device bound

Null pointer dereference occurs due to a race between smmu
driver probe and client driver probe, when of_dma_configure()
for client is called after the iommu_device_register() for smmu driver
probe has executed but before the driver_bound() for smmu driver
has been called.

Following is how the race occurs:

T1:Smmu device probe		T2: Client device probe

really_probe()
arm_smmu_device_probe()
iommu_device_register()
					really_probe()
					platform_dma_configure()
					of_dma_configure()
					of_dma_configure_id()
					of_iommu_configure()
					iommu_probe_device()
					iommu_init_device()
					arm_smmu_probe_device()
					arm_smmu_get_by_fwnode()
						driver_find_device_by_fwnode()
						driver_find_device()
						next_device()
						klist_next()
						    /* null ptr
						       assigned to smmu */
					/* null ptr dereference
					   while smmu->streamid_mask */
driver_bound()
	klist_add_tail()

When this null smmu pointer is dereferenced later in
arm_smmu_probe_device, the device crashes.

Fix this by deferring the probe of the client device
until the smmu device has bound to the arm smmu driver.

[will: Add comment]

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization), CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56568?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-56568?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-56568 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56568 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-2024-56568 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-56568 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-2024-56568 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-2024-56568/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56568/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56568
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56568
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56568

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56568/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.