CVE-2024-50068

What it actually does

Memory leak of sysfs_target->regions objects allocated via damon_sysfs_regions_alloc() that are never freed inside damon_sysfs_test_add_targets() in the DAMON kunit test helper.

Why it matters to the business

Repeated execution of the affected unit tests in development or CI environments can slowly exhaust kernel memory; production systems are unaffected because the leak exists only inside test code.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with the ability to repeatedly invoke the kunit test case damon_sysfs_test_add_targets() can trigger allocation without corresponding free, leading to gradual memory exhaustion; no remote unauthenticated path exists.

How to fix it

Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version containing commit 05d43455f6bffa6abc7b937ca58be00452e6973f; SUSE users should install slurm_22_05 version 22.05.11-3.9.1 or later.

How to confirm the fix worked

Rebuild with CONFIG_KMEMLEAK enabled, run the DAMON sysfs kunit tests, and confirm that kmemleak no longer reports unreferenced objects originating from damon_sysfs_test_add_targets().

Typical attack path

1. Obtain local access or control over a kernel build/test environment
2. Trigger repeated execution of the DAMON sysfs kunit test
3. Monitor kmemleak reports for unreferenced 96-byte allocations from damon_sysfs_test_add_targets

How to detect it

Enable kmemleak and search kernel logs for unreferenced allocations whose backtrace includes damon_sysfs_test_add_targets; examine kunit test execution logs for repeated test runs.

What your security team should do

• Apply the referenced upstream commit or distribution package update within normal kernel maintenance windows
• Include kmemleak or KASAN runs of DAMON tests in CI pipelines to catch similar regressions
• Treat this as a low-urgency developer-environment issue rather than a production exposure