Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2021-47118

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.4.272 / 4.9.272 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pid: take a reference when initializing `cad_pid` During boot, kernel_init_freeable() initializes `cad_pid` to the init task's struct pid. Later on, we may change `cad_pid` via a sysctl, and when this happens proc_do_cad_pid() will increment the refcount on the new pid via get_pid(), and will decrement the refcount on the old pid via put_pid(). As we never called get_pid() when we initialized `cad_pid`, we decrement a reference we never incremented, can therefore free the init task's struct pid early. As there can be dangling references to the struct pid, we can later encounter a use-after-free (e.g. when delivering signals). This was spotted when fuzzing v5.13-rc3 with Syzkaller, but seems to have been around since the conversion of `cad_pid` to struct pid in commit 9ec52099e4b8 ("[PATCH] replace cad_pid by a struct pid") from the pre-KASAN stone age of v2.6.19. Fix this by getting a reference to the init task's struct pid when we assign it to `cad_pid`. Full KASAN splat below. ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ns_of_pid include/linux/pid.h:153 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in task_active_pid_ns+0xc0/0xc8 kernel/pid.c:509 Read of size 4 at addr ffff23794dda0004 by task syz-executor.0/273 CPU: 1 PID: 273 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 5.12.0-00001-g9aef892b2d15 #1 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: ns_of_pid include/linux/pid.h:153 [inline] task_active_pid_ns+0xc0/0xc8 kernel/pid.c:509 do_notify_parent+0x308/0xe60 kernel/signal.c:1950 exit_notify kernel/exit.c:682 [inline] do_exit+0x2334/0x2bd0 kernel/exit.c:845 do_group_exit+0x108/0x2c8 kernel/exit.c:922 get_signal+0x4e4/0x2a88 kernel/signal.c:2781 do_signal arch/arm64/kernel/signal.c:882 [inline] do_notify_resume+0x300/0x970 arch/arm64/kernel/signal.c:936 work_pending+0xc/0x2dc Allocated by task 0: slab_post_alloc_hook+0x50/0x5c0 mm/slab.h:516 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:2907 [inline] slab_alloc mm/slub.c:2915 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc+0x1f4/0x4c0 mm/slub.c:2920 alloc_pid+0xdc/0xc00 kernel/pid.c:180 copy_process+0x2794/0x5e18 kernel/fork.c:2129 kernel_clone+0x194/0x13c8 kernel/fork.c:2500 kernel_thread+0xd4/0x110 kernel/fork.c:2552 rest_init+0x44/0x4a0 init/main.c:687 arch_call_rest_init+0x1c/0x28 start_kernel+0x520/0x554 init/main.c:1064 0x0 Freed by task 270: slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:1562 [inline] slab_free_freelist_hook+0x98/0x260 mm/slub.c:1600 slab_free mm/slub.c:3161 [inline] kmem_cache_free+0x224/0x8e0 mm/slub.c:3177 put_pid.part.4+0xe0/0x1a8 kernel/pid.c:114 put_pid+0x30/0x48 kernel/pid.c:109 proc_do_cad_pid+0x190/0x1b0 kernel/sysctl.c:1401 proc_sys_call_handler+0x338/0x4b0 fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c:591 proc_sys_write+0x34/0x48 fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c:617 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:1977 [inline] new_sync_write+0x3ac/0x510 fs/read_write.c:518 vfs_write fs/read_write.c:605 [inline] vfs_write+0x9c4/0x1018 fs/read_write.c:585 ksys_write+0x124/0x240 fs/read_write.c:658 __do_sys_write fs/read_write.c:670 [inline] __se_sys_write fs/read_write.c:667 [inline] __arm64_sys_write+0x78/0xb0 fs/read_write.c:667 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:37 [inline] invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49 [inline] el0_svc_common.constprop.1+0x16c/0x388 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:129 do_el0_svc+0xf8/0x150 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:168 el0_svc+0x28/0x38 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:416 el0_sync_handler+0x134/0x180 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:432 el0_sync+0x154/0x180 arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:701 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff23794dda0000 which belongs to the cache pid of size 224 The buggy address is located 4 bytes inside of 224-byte region [ff ---truncated---

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 analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-416

Memory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.

General guidance for the use after free 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
Affected:>= 2.6.19, < 4.4.272>= 4.5, < 4.9.272>= 4.10, < 4.14.236>= 4.15, < 4.19.194>= 4.20, < 5.4.125>= 5.5, < 5.10.43>= 5.11, < 5.12.10= 5.13

CVSS 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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.4.272 / 4.9.272 / 4.14.236 or later
Fixed in 4.4.2724.9.2724.14.236
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

4.4.272 (or 4.9.272, 4.14.236, or 4.19.194 depending on active branch - upgrade to the first fixed version in your branch)

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix: 4.4.272 or later (for 4.4.x branch), 4.9.272 or later (for 4.9.x branch), 4.14.236 or later (for 4.14.x branch), or 4.19.194 or later (for 4.19.x branch)
  2. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  3. Verify the fix is applied by checking that kernel_init_freeable() now calls get_pid() when initializing cad_pid to the init task's struct pid (the fix commit 0711f0d7050b9e07c44bc159bbc64ac0a1022c7f)
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require recompilation of out-of-tree modules; verify compatibility with existing kernel modules and workloads before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-47118 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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