Kernel crash via unreferenced PCI bus pointer
Published Dec 27, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux PCI hot removal allows local users to crash the kernel by racing PCIe hotplug driver binding. pci_create_slot() stores slot->bus without acquiring a pci_bus reference, so pci_slot_release() can dereference the bus after removal frees it. Reachability requires a PCIe hot-remove sequence, observed with a USB4 dock, and a race between hierarchy removal and pciehp binding.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux PCI hot removal allows local users to crash the kernel by racing PCIe hotplug driver binding. pci_create_slot() stores slot->bus without acquiring a pci_bus reference, so pci_slot_release() can dereference the bus after removal frees it. Reachability requires a PCIe hot-remove sequence, observed with a USB4 dock, and a race between hierarchy removal and pciehp binding.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-53194
- Published
- Dec 27, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 27, 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=2.6.27
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <20502f0b3f3acd6bee300257556c27a867f80c8b
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <41bbb1eb996be1435815aa1fbcc9ffc45b84cc12
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <50473dd3b2a08601a078f852ea05572de9b1f86c
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <69d2ceac11acf8579d58d55c9c5b65fb658f916e
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <c7acef99642b763ba585f4a43af999fcdbcc3dc4
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <c8266ab8e7ccd1d1f5a9c8b29eb2020175048134
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <d0ddd2c92b75a19a37c887154223372b600fed37
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <da6e6ff1f6c57f16e07af955e0e997fc90dd1e75
- Affected versionversion=f46753c5e354b857b20ab8e0fe7b2579831dc369 <e5d5c04aac71bf1476dc44b56f2206a4c2facca8
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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