Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2021-47010
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: Only allow init netns to set default tcp cong to a restricted algo tcp_set_default_congestion_control() is netns-safe in that it writes to &net->ipv4.tcp_congestion_control, but it also sets ca->flags |= TCP_CONG_NON_RESTRICTED which is not namespaced. This has the unintended side-effect of changing the global net.ipv4.tcp_allowed_congestion_control sysctl, despite the fact that it is read-only: 97684f0970f6 ("net: Make tcp_allowed_congestion_control readonly in non-init netns") Resolve this netns "leak" by only allowing the init netns to set the default algorithm to one that is restricted. This restriction could be removed if tcp_allowed_congestion_control were namespace-ified in the future. This bug was uncovered with https://github.com/JonathonReinhart/linux-netns-sysctl-verify
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisA single request can consume unbounded CPU, memory, or connections, so a modest amount of malicious traffic exhausts the service. The result is denial of service for everyone else. Remediation is enforcing limits, quotas, and timeouts on what any one request can use.
General guidance for the uncontrolled resource consumption class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 4.15, < 4.19.191>= 4.20, < 5.4.119>= 5.5, < 5.10.37>= 5.11, < 5.11.21>= 5.12, < 5.12.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped4.19.1915.4.1195.10.37
4.19.191, 5.4.119, 5.10.37, or 5.11.21 (or any later stable release)
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix: 4.19.191 or later for the 4.19 branch, 5.4.119 or later for the 5.4 LTS branch, 5.10.37 or later for the 5.10 stable branch, or 5.11.21 or later for the 5.11 stable branch
- After upgrading, verify the fix by checking that non-init network namespaces can no longer modify the global net.ipv4.tcp_allowed_congestion_control sysctl
- Reboot the system with the new kernel to apply the changes
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-47010 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-47010 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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