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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2021-47223

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.238 / 4.19.196 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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: net: bridge: fix vlan tunnel dst null pointer dereference This patch fixes a tunnel_dst null pointer dereference due to lockless access in the tunnel egress path. When deleting a vlan tunnel the tunnel_dst pointer is set to NULL without waiting a grace period (i.e. while it's still usable) and packets egressing are dereferencing it without checking. Use READ/WRITE_ONCE to annotate the lockless use of tunnel_id, use RCU for accessing tunnel_dst and make sure it is read only once and checked in the egress path. The dst is already properly RCU protected so we don't need to do anything fancy than to make sure tunnel_id and tunnel_dst are read only once and checked in the egress path.

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-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference 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:>= 4.11, < 4.14.238>= 4.15, < 4.19.196>= 4.20, < 5.4.128>= 5.5, < 5.10.46>= 5.11, < 5.12.13= 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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 4.14.238 / 4.19.196 / 5.4.128 or later
Fixed in 4.14.2384.19.1965.4.128
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to one of: 4.14.238, 4.19.196, 5.4.128, or 5.10.46 (depending on your current kernel branch)

  1. 1. Identify current kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate fixed kernel version based on your current branch: for 4.11-4.14.x upgrade to 4.14.238, for 4.15-4.19.x upgrade to 4.19.196, for 4.20-5.4.x upgrade to 5.4.128, for 5.5-5.10.x upgrade to 5.10.46
  3. 3. Update package repositories and install the fixed kernel version using your distribution's package manager (e.g., `apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>` for Debian/Ubuntu, or `yum update kernel` for RHEL/CentOS)
  4. 4. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  5. 5. Verify the fix is applied by checking `uname -r` matches the fixed version and confirming the patch commit 24a6e55f17aa is included
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or specific hardware drivers; test in staging environment first

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 $2,850. 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-2021-47223 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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