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CVE Record

CVE-2024-26745: powerpc/pseries/iommu: IOMMU table is not initialized for kdump over SR-IOV

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/pseries/iommu: IOMMU table is not initialized for kdump over SR-IOV When kdump kernel tries to copy dump data over SR-IOV, LPAR panics due to NULL pointer exception: Kernel attempted to read user page (0) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0) BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000000 Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000020847ad4 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Radix SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries Modules linked in: mlx5_core(+) vmx_crypto pseries_wdt papr_scm libnvdimm mlxfw tls psample sunrpc fuse overlay squashfs loop CPU: 12 PID: 315 Comm: systemd-udevd Not tainted 6.4.0-Test102+ #12 Hardware name: IBM,9080-HEX POWER10 (raw) 0x800200 0xf000006 of:IBM,FW1060.00 (NH1060_008) hv:phyp pSeries NIP: c000000020847ad4 LR: c00000002083b2dc CTR: 00000000006cd18c REGS: c000000029162ca0 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (6.4.0-Test102+) MSR: 800000000280b033 <SF,VEC,VSX,EE,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 48288244 XER: 00000008 CFAR: c00000002083b2d8 DAR: 0000000000000000 DSISR: 40000000 IRQMASK: 1 ... NIP _find_next_zero_bit+0x24/0x110 LR bitmap_find_next_zero_area_off+0x5c/0xe0 Call Trace: dev_printk_emit+0x38/0x48 (unreliable) iommu_area_alloc+0xc4/0x180 iommu_range_alloc+0x1e8/0x580 iommu_alloc+0x60/0x130 iommu_alloc_coherent+0x158/0x2b0 dma_iommu_alloc_coherent+0x3c/0x50 dma_alloc_attrs+0x170/0x1f0 mlx5_cmd_init+0xc0/0x760 [mlx5_core] mlx5_function_setup+0xf0/0x510 [mlx5_core] mlx5_init_one+0x84/0x210 [mlx5_core] probe_one+0x118/0x2c0 [mlx5_core] local_pci_probe+0x68/0x110 pci_call_probe+0x68/0x200 pci_device_probe+0xbc/0x1a0 really_probe+0x104/0x540 __driver_probe_device+0xb4/0x230 driver_probe_device+0x54/0x130 __driver_attach+0x158/0x2b0 bus_for_each_dev+0xa8/0x130 driver_attach+0x34/0x50 bus_add_driver+0x16c/0x300 driver_register+0xa4/0x1b0 __pci_register_driver+0x68/0x80 mlx5_init+0xb8/0x100 [mlx5_core] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x300 do_init_module+0x7c/0x2b0 At the time of LPAR dump, before kexec hands over control to kdump kernel, DDWs (Dynamic DMA Windows) are scanned and added to the FDT. For the SR-IOV case, default DMA window "ibm,dma-window" is removed from the FDT and DDW added, for the device. Now, kexec hands over control to the kdump kernel. When the kdump kernel initializes, PCI busses are scanned and IOMMU group/tables created, in pci_dma_bus_setup_pSeriesLP(). For the SR-IOV case, there is no "ibm,dma-window". The original commit: b1fc44eaa9ba, fixes the path where memory is pre-mapped (direct mapped) to the DDW. When TCEs are direct mapped, there is no need to initialize IOMMU tables. iommu_table_setparms_lpar() only considers "ibm,dma-window" property when initiallizing IOMMU table. In the scenario where TCEs are dynamically allocated for SR-IOV, newly created IOMMU table is not initialized. Later, when the device driver tries to enter TCEs for the SR-IOV device, NULL pointer execption is thrown from iommu_area_alloc(). The fix is to initialize the IOMMU table with DDW property stored in the FDT. There are 2 points to remember: 1. For the dedicated adapter, kdump kernel would encounter both default and DDW in FDT. In this case, DDW property is used to initialize the IOMMU table. 2. A DDW could be direct or dynamic mapped. kdump kernel would initialize IOMMU table and mark the existing DDW as "dynamic". This works fine since, at the time of table initialization, iommu_table_clear() makes some space in the DDW, for some predefined number of TCEs which are needed for kdump to succeed.

MediumCVSS 4.4Not KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This issue can make crash recovery fail on specific IBM Power pSeries Linux systems. During a kdump over SR-IOV, the crash kernel may hit a NULL pointer and panic, preventing dump capture. The business impact is mainly loss of forensic evidence and delayed incident or outage diagnosis.

Executive priority

Treat as a targeted reliability fix for specialized infrastructure. It is not broad internet-facing risk, but affected systems may lose critical crash evidence during outages, which can slow recovery and root-cause analysis.

Technical view

In affected Linux kernels, the pSeries IOMMU setup for kdump handles the default ibm,dma-window but not the DDW property used with SR-IOV. The kdump kernel can create an uninitialized IOMMU table, leading to a NULL pointer exception when a device driver allocates DMA mappings. Impact is availability of kdump processing.

Likely exposure

Exposure appears limited to Linux on IBM pSeries/POWER LPAR environments using kdump with SR-IOV and DDW-based DMA windows. Generic Linux servers without this platform and crash-dump path are unlikely to be affected based on the provided sources.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not cite KEV listing or active exploitation. The described failure occurs in a crash-dump recovery path when the kdump kernel initializes SR-IOV devices. CVSS indicates local access, high privileges, and high availability impact.

Researcher notes

Focus analysis on pSeries LPAR kdump behavior with SR-IOV. The fix initializes the IOMMU table from DDW information in the FDT. Evidence does not support broader privilege escalation or confidentiality impact.

Mitigation direction

  • Update to a kernel containing the referenced upstream stable fixes or vendor backports.
  • Prioritize pSeries LPARs where kdump reliability supports incident response or outage analysis.
  • Check Linux distribution vendor guidance for exact fixed package versions.
  • If patching is delayed, validate alternate crash-dump collection paths with vendor guidance.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Linux pSeries LPARs using kdump and SR-IOV devices.
  • Compare running kernels with affected versions and vendor fixed builds.
  • Review kernel changelogs for the pSeries IOMMU DDW initialization fix.
  • Test kdump capture after updating in a representative maintenance window.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
6

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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CVE-2024-26745 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
4.4 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
2ADP providers
5Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
4.4CVSS 3.1MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H0.83.6CISA-ADP

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

4.4Medium
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2024-26745Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
cvssV3_1other:ssvc
CVECVE Program Container
Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
LinuxLinuxb1fc44eaa9ba31e28c4125d6b9205a3582b47b5d, b1fc44eaa9ba31e28c4125d6b9205a3582b47b5d, b1fc44eaa9ba31e28c4125d6b9205a3582b47b5d, b1fc44eaa9ba31e28c4125d6b9205a3582b47b5d, b9f08b2649dddd4eb0698cb428b173bb01dd2fc5, 58942f672c6d04b6a3cd7866cb459671df881538, 5.18.18, 5.19.2unaffected
LinuxLinux6.0, 0, 6.1.81, 6.6.21, 6.7.9, 6.8affected
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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