Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-56775

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel ≤ 6.12.4

Published
08 January 2025
Modified
01 October 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0021 11th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-56775 is a high-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 11th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2024-56775 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's drm/amd/display subsystem that affects the mechanism for backing up and restoring plane states. The issue arises because this mechanism fails to properly maintain reference counts (refcounts) on planes. If the refcount changes between backup and restore operations, it can lead to memory leaks when the refcount should decrease, or double frees and invalid memory accesses when it should increase. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 and is associated with CWE-401 (Memory Leak) and CWE-415 (Double Free).

A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows high-impact consequences, including unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, modification of data, and denial of service through system crashes or corruption, all within the unchanged security scope.

Kernel patches address the issue by caching the current refcount and re-applying it during plane state restoration. Relevant commits are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/27227a234c1487cb7a684615f0749c455218833a and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8cb2f6793845f135b28361ba8e96901cae3e5790. Security practitioners should ensure affected Linux kernels are updated to incorporate these fixes.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/amd/display: Fix handling of plane refcount [Why] The mechanism to backup and restore plane states doesn't maintain refcount, which can cause issues if the refcount of the plane changes in…

more

between backup and restore operations, such as memory leaks if the refcount was supposed to go down, or double frees / invalid memory accesses if the refcount was supposed to go up. [How] Cache and re-apply current refcount when restoring plane states.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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CVE-2026-23162Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
≤ 6.12.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 1 hardening rule · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.

Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.

Flaw remediation processes require identification and correction of memory-management defects such as double free once discovered.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 full match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent double-free errors via static analysis, safe memory APIs, and testing.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development can detect unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates memory-management practices that reduce missing-release defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify explicit memory-release rules, partially mitigating the weakness.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles include resource-management guidelines that address memory leaks.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require proper allocation/deallocation, covering most of this weakness.

finds

Capacity management may detect memory exhaustion symptoms but does not prevent the coding flaw.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248590 OL 8 must clear the page allocator to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-415

References