Local memory corruption via stale PA-RISC cache lines
Published Jul 12, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Memory corruption in the PA-RISC cache code in Linux allows local users to crash processes through ordinary memory use. The page-table and cache-flush paths can clear or inspect a PTE without first removing cache lines and purging the CPU-local TLB entry, leaving stale aliases mapped to physical pages. Exposure is limited to PA8800 and PA8900 systems, especially SMP models; consequences include corrupted mmap or malloc data, random segmentation faults, and hardware lockups.
Summary
What happened
Memory corruption in the PA-RISC cache code in Linux allows local users to crash processes through ordinary memory use. The page-table and cache-flush paths can clear or inspect a PTE without first removing cache lines and purging the CPU-local TLB entry, leaving stale aliases mapped to physical pages. Exposure is limited to PA8800 and PA8900 systems, especially SMP models; consequences include corrupted mmap or malloc data, random segmentation faults, and hardware lockups.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-40918
- Published
- Jul 12, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 12, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 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=2de8b4cc2051ee1d40eedbcf94de0e7d04507c37 <5bf196f1936bf93df31112fbdfb78c03537c07b0
- Affected versionversion=2de8b4cc2051ee1d40eedbcf94de0e7d04507c37 <72d95924ee35c8cd16ef52f912483ee938a34d49
- Affected versionversion=2de8b4cc2051ee1d40eedbcf94de0e7d04507c37 <d66f2607d89f760cdffed88b22f309c895a2af20
- Affected versionversion=5.18
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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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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