CVE-2024-46716: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2024-46716 affects the Linux kernel's DMA engine, specifically the Altera mSGDMA driver. The vulnerability was discovered and disclosed on September 18, 2024, and involves improper descriptor freeing in the msgdmafreedescriptor function (NVD).

The vulnerability exists in the DMA engine's Altera mSGDMA driver where descriptors were not being properly freed due to incorrect list management. The issue occurs in the path: msgdmafreechanresources -> msgdmafreedescriptors -> msgdmafreedesclist -> msgdmafreedescriptor, where first nodes were not being removed from the list correctly. The fix involves removing the listdel call in msgdmachandesccleanup and replacing listaddtail with listmovetail in msgdmafreedescriptor (Kernel Commit).

The vulnerability affects Linux kernel systems using the Altera mSGDMA DMA engine driver. Multiple Linux distributions including Ubuntu and Debian have marked this as a security issue requiring updates (Ubuntu, Debian).

The issue has been fixed in various Linux kernel versions. Ubuntu has released fixes for version 6.8.0-50.51 in noble (24.04 LTS) and corresponding versions in other supported releases. Debian has also included the fix in their security updates. Users should update their kernel to the patched versions available through their distribution's update mechanisms (Ubuntu).