CVE-2024-44971: Linux kernel · Memory Leak
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.
Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 22:52 UTC
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 Sep 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: dsa: bcm_sf2: Fix a possible memory leak in bcm_sf2_mdio_register() bcm_sf2_mdio_register() calls of_phy_find_device() and then phy_device_remove() in a loop to remove existing PHY devices. of_phy_find_device() eventually calls bus_find_device(), which calls get_device() on the returned struct device * to increment the refcount. The current implementation does not decrement the refcount, which causes memory leak. This commit adds the missing phy_device_free() call to decrement the refcount via put_device() to balance the refcount.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-44971 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/7feef10768ea71d468d9bbc1e0d14c461876768c (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7d2808d67570e6acae45c2a96e0d59986888e4c (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7b8d9f5e679af60c94251fd6728dde34be69a71 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c05516c072903f6fb9134b8e7e1ad4bffcdc4819 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3862093ee93fcfbdadcb7957f5f8974fffa806a (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3d5efe18a11f94150fee8b3fda9d62079af640a (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/10/msg00003.html (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00001.html (opens in a new tab)