NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2024-57881

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/page_alloc: don't call pfn_to_page() on possibly non-existent PFN in split_large_buddy() In split_large_buddy(), we might call pfn_to_page() on a PFN that might not exist. In corner cases, such as when freeing the highest pageblock in the last memory section, this could result with CONFIG_SPARSEMEM && !CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_EXTREME in __pfn_to_section() returning NULL and and __section_mem_map_addr() dereferencing that NULL pointer. Let's fix it, and avoid doing a pfn_to_page() call for the first iteration, where we already have the page. So far this was found by code inspection, but let's just CC stable as the fix is easy.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (6.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 7th percentile — 6.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2024-57881: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions fd919a85cd55be5d00a6a7372071f44c8eafb825, 6.10, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.13

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-57881?
CVE-2024-57881 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-01-11.
How severe is CVE-2024-57881?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.