Kernel crash via stale CXL decoder reference
Published Nov 9, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel CXL port driver allows local users to crash the kernel during out-of-order decoder teardown. An out-of-order switch-decoder reset aborts region cleanup but frees an endpoint decoder, so a later cxl_region_decode_reset() dereferences the stale object. Reachability requires a CXL region whose endpoints share a switch decoder and teardown outside allocation order; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel CXL port driver allows local users to crash the kernel during out-of-order decoder teardown. An out-of-order switch-decoder reset aborts region cleanup but frees an endpoint decoder, so a later cxl_region_decode_reset() dereferences the stale object. Reachability requires a CXL region whose endpoints share a switch decoder and teardown outside allocation order; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-50226
- Published
- Nov 9, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 9, 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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- Affected versionversion=176baefb2eb5d7a3ddebe3ff803db1fce44574b5 <101c268bd2f37e965a5468353e62d154db38838e
- Affected versionversion=176baefb2eb5d7a3ddebe3ff803db1fce44574b5 <78c8454fdce0eeee962be004eb6d99860c80dad1
- Affected versionversion=176baefb2eb5d7a3ddebe3ff803db1fce44574b5 <8e1b52c15c81106456437f8e49575040e489e355
- Affected versionversion=6.0
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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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