---
id: CVE-2024-41023
title: 'sched/deadline: Fix task_struct reference leak'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  sched/deadline: Fix task_struct reference leak

  During the execution of the following stress test with linux-rt:

  stress-ng --cyclic 30 --timeout 30 --minimize --quiet
  …
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= feff2e65efd8d84cf831668e182b2ce73c604bbb <
    f8005214946fd1d9fefdeff19c6ce46d60de2cef
  - >-
    Linux >= feff2e65efd8d84cf831668e182b2ce73c604bbb <
    7a54d31face626f62de415ebe77b43f76c3ffaf4
  - >-
    Linux >= feff2e65efd8d84cf831668e182b2ce73c604bbb <
    b58652db66c910c2245f5bee7deca41c12d707b9
  - Linux f0e1c1d8ff908a39dd42e723d08f104505dfa601
  - Linux 184c8ab5342450c4ae6fc5d937f9bb06c620dcf1
  - Linux >= 4.19.257 < 4.20
  - Linux >= 5.4.212 < 5.5
  - Linux 5.10
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2024-09-10T16:24:19.073103Z'
published: '2024-07-29'
updated: '2026-10-21'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-21T12:34:54.743Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-41023'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f8005214946fd1d9fefdeff19c6ce46d60de2cef'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a54d31face626f62de415ebe77b43f76c3ffaf4'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b58652db66c910c2245f5bee7deca41c12d707b9'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00293
epssPercentile: 0.20689
ingestedAt: '2026-10-21T12:48:53.735Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/deadline: Fix task_struct reference leak

During the execution of the following stress test with linux-rt:

stress-ng --cyclic 30 --timeout 30 --minimize --quiet

kmemleak frequently reported a memory leak concerning the task_struct:

unreferenced object 0xffff8881305b8000 (size 16136):
  comm "stress-ng", pid 614, jiffies 4294883961 (age 286.412s)
  object hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    02 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  .@..............
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
  debug hex dump (first 16 bytes):
    53 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  S...............
  backtrace:
    [<00000000046b6790>] dup_task_struct+0x30/0x540
    [<00000000c5ca0f0b>] copy_process+0x3d9/0x50e0
    [<00000000ced59777>] kernel_clone+0xb0/0x770
    [<00000000a50befdc>] __do_sys_clone+0xb6/0xf0
    [<000000001dbf2008>] do_syscall_64+0x5d/0xf0
    [<00000000552900ff>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0x76

The issue occurs in start_dl_timer(), which increments the task_struct
reference count and sets a timer. The timer callback, dl_task_timer,
is supposed to decrement the reference count upon expiration. However,
if enqueue_task_dl() is called before the timer expires and cancels it,
the reference count is not decremented, leading to the leak.

This patch fixes the reference leak by ensuring the task_struct
reference count is properly decremented when the timer is canceled.

## Affected

- `Linux >= feff2e65efd8d84cf831668e182b2ce73c604bbb < f8005214946fd1d9fefdeff19c6ce46d60de2cef`
- `Linux >= feff2e65efd8d84cf831668e182b2ce73c604bbb < 7a54d31face626f62de415ebe77b43f76c3ffaf4`
- `Linux >= feff2e65efd8d84cf831668e182b2ce73c604bbb < b58652db66c910c2245f5bee7deca41c12d707b9`
- `Linux f0e1c1d8ff908a39dd42e723d08f104505dfa601`
- `Linux 184c8ab5342450c4ae6fc5d937f9bb06c620dcf1`
- `Linux >= 4.19.257 < 4.20`
- `Linux >= 5.4.212 < 5.5`
- `Linux 5.10`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.