# CVE-2024-56668: iommu/vt-d: Fix qi_batch NULL pointer with nested parent domain

> A missing allocation in the Linux kernel IOMMU driver causes a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash when mapping pages for nested parent domains.

- **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-2024-56668, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56668, GHSA-7hpx-3fcf-fxr2, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56668

## What is CVE-2024-56668?

CVE-2024-56668 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/vt-d: Fix qi_batch NULL pointer with nested parent domain

The qi_batch is allocated when assigning cache tag for a domain. While
for nested parent domain, it is missed. Hence, when trying to map pages
to the nested parent, NULL dereference occurred. Also, there is potential
memleak since there is no lock around domain->qi_batch allocation.

To solve it, add a helper for qi_batch allocation, and call it in both
the __cache_tag_assign_domain() and __cache_tag_assign_parent_domain().

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000200
  #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
  #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
  PGD 8104795067 P4D 0
  Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
  CPU: 223 UID: 0 PID: 4357 Comm: qemu-system-x86 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc1-00028-g4b50c3c3b998-dirty #2632
  Call Trace:
   ? __die+0x24/0x70
   ? page_fault_oops+0x80/0x150
   ? do_user_addr_fault+0x63/0x7b0
   ? exc_page_fault+0x7c/0x220
   ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30
   ? cache_tag_flush_range_np+0x13c/0x260
   intel_iommu_iotlb_sync_map+0x1a/0x30
   iommu_map+0x61/0xf0
   batch_to_domain+0x188/0x250
   iopt_area_fill_domains+0x125/0x320
   ? rcu_is_watching+0x11/0x50
   iopt_map_pages+0x63/0x100
   iopt_map_common.isra.0+0xa7/0x190
   iopt_map_user_pages+0x6a/0x80
   iommufd_ioas_map+0xcd/0x1d0
   iommufd_fops_ioctl+0x118/0x1c0
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x93/0xc0
   do_syscall_64+0x71/0x140
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime), CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56668?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-56668?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-56668 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56668 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-2024-56668 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-56668 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-2024-56668 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-2024-56668/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56668/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56668
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56668
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56668

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56668/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.