Local denial of service via irqfd deadlock
Published Sep 4, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper locking in Linux Xen privcmd irqfds allows local users to hang kernel operations by releasing an associated eventfd. The irqfd_wakeup() callback tries to acquire a mutex while eventfd_release() invokes it under spin_lock_irqsave(), causing a lock-order deadlock on EPOLLHUP. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and an active Xen privcmd irqfd; the bounded consequence is an availability-only hang.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in Linux Xen privcmd irqfds allows local users to hang kernel operations by releasing an associated eventfd. The irqfd_wakeup() callback tries to acquire a mutex while eventfd_release() invokes it under spin_lock_irqsave(), causing a lock-order deadlock on EPOLLHUP. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and an active Xen privcmd irqfd; the bounded consequence is an availability-only hang.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-44957
- Published
- Sep 4, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 4, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 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=6.6
- Affected versionversion=f8941e6c4c712948663ec5d7bbb546f1a0f4e3f6 <1c682593096a487fd9aebc079a307ff7a6d054a3
- Affected versionversion=f8941e6c4c712948663ec5d7bbb546f1a0f4e3f6 <49f2a5da6785b2dbde93e291cae037662440346e
- Affected versionversion=f8941e6c4c712948663ec5d7bbb546f1a0f4e3f6 <c2775ae4d9227729f8ca9ee2a068f62a00d5ea9c
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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