Kernel panic via hugetlb folio race
Published May 30, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026
A race condition in Linux kernel hugetlb memory handling allows local users to trigger a kernel panic during memory failure handling. __update_and_free_hugetlb_folio() initializes a folio's unioned _deferred_list while a race leaves its hugetlb flag set, corrupting _hugetlb_subpool before free_huge_folio() uses it. Exploitation requires local access and concurrent hugetlb vmemmap restoration; panic-on-warning configurations turn the resulting lock warning into a system-wide crash.
Summary
What happened
A race condition in Linux kernel hugetlb memory handling allows local users to trigger a kernel panic during memory failure handling. __update_and_free_hugetlb_folio() initializes a folio's unioned _deferred_list while a race leaves its hugetlb flag set, corrupting _hugetlb_subpool before free_huge_folio() uses it. Exploitation requires local access and concurrent hugetlb vmemmap restoration; panic-on-warning configurations turn the resulting lock warning into a system-wide crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-36028
- Published
- May 30, 2024
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-362, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 30, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=1b4ce2952b4f33e198d5e993acff0611dff1e399 <2effe407f7563add41750fd7e03da4ea44b98099
- Affected versionversion=32c877191e022b55fe3a374f3d7e9fb5741c514d <52ccdde16b6540abe43b6f8d8e1e1ec90b0983af
- Affected versionversion=32c877191e022b55fe3a374f3d7e9fb5741c514d <7e0a322877416e8c648819a8e441cf8c790b2cce
- Affected versionversion=32c877191e022b55fe3a374f3d7e9fb5741c514d <9c9b32d46afab2d911897914181c488954012300
- Affected versionversion=6.1.47 <6.1.91
- Affected versionversion=6.4.11 <6.5
- Affected versionversion=6.5
- Affected versionversion=9a1a43a0e7e96911eaa00ad20b20f2edefb31d8a
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
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Your stack
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