Kernel panic via huge-zero-folio reference underflow
Published Jul 12, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026
Memory-management failure in Linux huge zero page handling allows local users to trigger a kernel panic during memory failure recovery. unpoison_memory() decrements the huge_zero_folio reference count even though HWPoison marking did not increment it, reaching a zero-count assertion during release. Reachability requires local access and a huge zero folio marked HWPoison; the resulting assertion interrupts the host.
Summary
What happened
Memory-management failure in Linux huge zero page handling allows local users to trigger a kernel panic during memory failure recovery. unpoison_memory() decrements the huge_zero_folio reference count even though HWPoison marking did not increment it, reaching a zero-count assertion during release. Reachability requires local access and a huge zero folio marked HWPoison; the resulting assertion interrupts the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-40914
- Published
- Jul 12, 2024
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 12, 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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=13d9b8cd12f37d133b07ea5b323583e8a0c6b738
- Affected versionversion=478d134e9506c7e9bfe2830ed03dd85e97966313 <0d73477af964dbd7396163a13817baf13940bca9
- Affected versionversion=478d134e9506c7e9bfe2830ed03dd85e97966313 <b2494506f30675245a3e6787281f79601af087bf
- Affected versionversion=478d134e9506c7e9bfe2830ed03dd85e97966313 <d72b7711919de49d92a67dfc844a6cf4c23dd794
- Affected versionversion=478d134e9506c7e9bfe2830ed03dd85e97966313 <fe6f86f4b40855a130a19aa589f9ba7f650423f4
- Affected versionversion=5.15.41 <5.15.162
- Affected versionversion=5.17.9 <5.18
- Affected versionversion=5.18
- Affected versionversion=f8f836100fff594cea8a0a027affb9d5520f09a7 <688bb46ad339497b5b7f527b6636d2afe04b46af
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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