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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2021-47339

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.12.18 / 5.13.3 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: media: v4l2-core: explicitly clear ioctl input data As seen from a recent syzbot bug report, mistakes in the compat ioctl implementation can lead to uninitialized kernel stack data getting used as input for driver ioctl handlers. The reported bug is now fixed, but it's possible that other related bugs are still present or get added in the future. As the drivers need to check user input already, the possible impact is fairly low, but it might still cause an information leak. To be on the safe side, always clear the entire ioctl buffer before calling the conversion handler functions that are meant to initialize them.

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-908

Memory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.

General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource 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:< 5.12.18>= 5.13, < 5.13.3

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 5.12.18 / 5.13.3 or later
Fixed in 5.12.185.13.3
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.12.18 or 5.13.3 (or later stable release)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. If running kernel version < 5.12.18, plan to upgrade to at least 5.12.18
  3. If running kernel version >= 5.13.0 and < 5.13.3, plan to upgrade to at least 5.13.3
  4. For production systems, upgrade to the latest stable kernel release (e.g., 5.14.x or later) which includes this fix
  5. Apply the upgrade using your distribution's package manager (e.g., 'apt-get dist-upgrade', 'yum update', or 'dnf upgrade')
  6. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  7. Verify the new kernel version is running with 'uname -r'
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching driver/module updates; ensure third-party drivers are compatible with the target kernel version before upgrading

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 $1,600. 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-2021-47339 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data