HighCVE-2021-47078

    Linux Kernel: Use-After-Free (CVE-2021-47078)

    Published Last modified Sources: BSI, CVE.org, EUVD

    Share

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/rxe: Clear all QP fields if creation failed rxe_qp_do_cleanup() relies on valid pointer values in QP for the properly created ones, but in case rxe_qp_from_init() failed it was filled with garbage and caused tot the following error. refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 12560 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0x1d1/0x1e0 lib/refcount.c:28 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 12560 Comm: syz-executor.4 Not tainted 5.12.0-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x1d1/0x1e0 lib/refcount.c:28 Code: e9 db fe ff ff 48 89 df e8 2c c2 ea fd e9 8a fe ff ff e8 72 6a a7 fd 48 c7 c7 e0 b2 c1 89 c6 05 dc 3a e6 09 01 e8 ee 74 fb 04 <0f> 0b e9 af fe ff ff 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 41 56 41 55 41 54 55 RSP: 0018:ffffc900097ceba8 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000040000 RSI: ffffffff815bb075 RDI: fffff520012f9d67 RBP: 0000000000000003 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffffffff815b4eae R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff8880322a4800 R13: ffff8880322a4940 R14: ffff888033044e00 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f6eb2be3700(0000) GS:ffff8880b9d00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fdbe5d41000 CR3: 000000001d181000 CR4: 00000000001506e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: __refcount_sub_and_test include/linux/refcount.h:283 [inline] __refcount_dec_and_test include/linux/refcount.h:315 [inline] refcount_dec_and_test include/linux/refcount.h:333 [inline] kref_put include/linux/kref.h:64 [inline] rxe_qp_do_cleanup+0x96f/0xaf0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_qp.c:805 execute_in_process_context+0x37/0x150 kernel/workqueue.c:3327 rxe_elem_release+0x9f/0x180 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_pool.c:391 kref_put include/linux/kref.h:65 [inline] rxe_create_qp+0x2cd/0x310 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_verbs.c:425 _ib_create_qp drivers/infiniband/core/core_priv.h:331 [inline] ib_create_named_qp+0x2ad/0x1370 drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:1231 ib_create_qp include/rdma/ib_verbs.h:3644 [inline] create_mad_qp+0x177/0x2d0 drivers/infiniband/core/mad.c:2920 ib_mad_port_open drivers/infiniband/core/mad.c:3001 [inline] ib_mad_init_device+0xd6f/0x1400 drivers/infiniband/core/mad.c:3092 add_client_context+0x405/0x5e0 drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:717 enable_device_and_get+0x1cd/0x3b0 drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:1331 ib_register_device drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:1413 [inline] ib_register_device+0x7c7/0xa50 drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:1365 rxe_register_device+0x3d5/0x4a0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_verbs.c:1147 rxe_add+0x12fe/0x16d0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c:247 rxe_net_add+0x8c/0xe0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_net.c:503 rxe_newlink drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c:269 [inline] rxe_newlink+0xb7/0xe0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c:250 nldev_newlink+0x30e/0x550 drivers/infiniband/core/nldev.c:1555 rdma_nl_rcv_msg+0x36d/0x690 drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c:195 rdma_nl_rcv_skb drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c:239 [inline] rdma_nl_rcv+0x2ee/0x430 drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c:259 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1312 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x533/0x7d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1338 netlink_sendmsg+0x856/0xd90 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1927 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:654 [inline] sock_sendmsg+0xcf/0x120 net/socket.c:674 ____sys_sendmsg+0x6e8/0x810 net/socket.c:2350 ___sys_sendmsg+0xf3/0x170 net/socket.c:2404 __sys_sendmsg+0xe5/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2433 do_syscall_64+0x3a/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:47 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0 ---truncated---

    Update Linux Kernel to version 4.9.270, Linux Kernel to version 4.14.234, Linux Kernel to version 4.19.192.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 4.8..4.9.270
    • Linux Kernel lt 4.10..4.14.234
    • Linux Kernel lt 4.15..4.19.192
    • Linux Kernel lt 4.20..5.4.122
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.5..5.10.40
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.11..5.12.7
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 4.9.270
    • Linux Kernel 4.14.234
    • Linux Kernel 4.19.192
    • Linux Kernel 5.4.122
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.40
    • Linux Kernel 5.12.7
    • Linux Kernel 5.13

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    7.8

    XIEM Effective CVSS

    Highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    7.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: BSI, CVE.org, EUVD

    0.3 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 21.1

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    High
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    47.06 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    7.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.3 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    21.1
    Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: partial
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 6 March 2024

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/rxe: Clear all QP fields if creation failed rxe_qp_do_cleanup() relies on valid pointer values in QP for the properly created ones, but in case rxe_qp_from_init() failed it was filled with garbage and caused tot the following error. refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 12560 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0x1d1/0x1e0 lib/refcount.c:28 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 12560 Comm: syz-executor.4 Not tainted 5.12.0-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x1d1/0x1e0 lib/refcount.c:28 Code: e9 db fe ff ff 48 89 df e8 2c c2 ea fd e9 8a fe ff ff e8 72 6a a7 fd 48 c7 c7 e0 b2 c1 89 c6 05 dc 3a e6 09 01 e8 ee 74 fb 04 <0f> 0b e9 af fe ff ff 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 41 56 41 55 41 54 55 RSP: 0018:ffffc900097ceba8 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000040000 RSI: ffffffff815bb075 RDI: fffff520012f9d67 RBP: 0000000000000003 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffffffff815b4eae R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff8880322a4800 R13: ffff8880322a4940 R14: ffff888033044e00 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f6eb2be3700(0000) GS:ffff8880b9d00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fdbe5d41000 CR3: 000000001d181000 CR4: 00000000001506e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: __refcount_sub_and_test include/linux/refcount.h:283 [inline] __refcount_dec_and_test include/linux/refcount.h:315 [inline] refcount_dec_and_test include/linux/refcount.h:333 [inline] kref_put include/linux/kref.h:64 [inline] rxe_qp_do_cleanup+0x96f/0xaf0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_qp.c:805 execute_in_process_context+0x37/0x150 kernel/workqueue.c:3327 rxe_elem_release+0x9f/0x180 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_pool.c:391 kref_put include/linux/kref.h:65 [inline] rxe_create_qp+0x2cd/0x310 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_verbs.c:425 _ib_create_qp drivers/infiniband/core/core_priv.h:331 [inline] ib_create_named_qp+0x2ad/0x1370 drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:1231 ib_create_qp include/rdma/ib_verbs.h:3644 [inline] create_mad_qp+0x177/0x2d0 drivers/infiniband/core/mad.c:2920 ib_mad_port_open drivers/infiniband/core/mad.c:3001 [inline] ib_mad_init_device+0xd6f/0x1400 drivers/infiniband/core/mad.c:3092 add_client_context+0x405/0x5e0 drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:717 enable_device_and_get+0x1cd/0x3b0 drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:1331 ib_register_device drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:1413 [inline] ib_register_device+0x7c7/0xa50 drivers/infiniband/core/device.c:1365 rxe_register_device+0x3d5/0x4a0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_verbs.c:1147 rxe_add+0x12fe/0x16d0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c:247 rxe_net_add+0x8c/0xe0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe_net.c:503 rxe_newlink drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c:269 [inline] rxe_newlink+0xb7/0xe0 drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c:250 nldev_newlink+0x30e/0x550 drivers/infiniband/core/nldev.c:1555 rdma_nl_rcv_msg+0x36d/0x690 drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c:195 rdma_nl_rcv_skb drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c:239 [inline] rdma_nl_rcv+0x2ee/0x430 drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c:259 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1312 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x533/0x7d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1338 netlink_sendmsg+0x856/0xd90 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1927 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:654 [inline] sock_sendmsg+0xcf/0x120 net/socket.c:674 ____sys_sendmsg+0x6e8/0x810 net/socket.c:2350 ___sys_sendmsg+0xf3/0x170 net/socket.c:2404 __sys_sendmsg+0xe5/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2433 do_syscall_64+0x3a/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:47 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0 ---truncated---

    Source: BSI CSAF, BSI WID Portal, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), ENISA EUVD

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 4.15 – < 4.19.192
    • 4.20 – < 5.4.122
    • 5.11 – < 5.12.7
    • 4.10 – < 4.14.234
    • 5.5 – < 5.10.40
    • —
    • 4.8 – < 4.9.270
    • 4.19.192
    • 5.4.122
    • 5.12.7
    • 4.14.234
    • 5.10.40
    • 5.13
    • 4.9.270

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel5.13
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel—

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedLinux

      CVSS V3.1: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Embed badge

    Show the severity and KEV status of this vulnerability on your site – with a link back here. The image is updated hourly.

    Badge preview for CVE-2021-47078
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2021-47078"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2021-47078.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2021-47078 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>