dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2021-47481

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.13 / 5.14.16 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: RDMA/mlx5: Initialize the ODP xarray when creating an ODP MR Normally the zero fill would hide the missing initialization, but an errant set to desc_size in reg_create() causes a crash: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000800000000 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI CPU: 5 PID: 890 Comm: ib_write_bw Not tainted 5.15.0-rc4+ #47 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:mlx5_ib_dereg_mr+0x14/0x3b0 [mlx5_ib] Code: 48 63 cd 4c 89 f7 48 89 0c 24 e8 37 30 03 e1 48 8b 0c 24 eb a0 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 56 41 55 41 54 55 53 48 89 fb 48 83 ec 30 <48> 8b 2f 65 48 8b 04 25 28 00 00 00 48 89 44 24 28 31 c0 8b 87 c8 RSP: 0018:ffff88811afa3a60 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 000000000000001c RBX: 0000000800000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000800000000 RBP: 0000000800000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: c0000000fffff7ff R10: ffff88811afa38f8 R11: ffff88811afa38f0 R12: ffffffffa02c7ac0 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff88811afa3cd8 R15: ffff88810772fa00 FS: 00007f47b9080740(0000) GS:ffff88852cd40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000800000000 CR3: 000000010761e003 CR4: 0000000000370ea0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: mlx5_ib_free_odp_mr+0x95/0xc0 [mlx5_ib] mlx5_ib_dereg_mr+0x128/0x3b0 [mlx5_ib] ib_dereg_mr_user+0x45/0xb0 [ib_core] ? xas_load+0x8/0x80 destroy_hw_idr_uobject+0x1a/0x50 [ib_uverbs] uverbs_destroy_uobject+0x2f/0x150 [ib_uverbs] uobj_destroy+0x3c/0x70 [ib_uverbs] ib_uverbs_cmd_verbs+0x467/0xb00 [ib_uverbs] ? uverbs_finalize_object+0x60/0x60 [ib_uverbs] ? ttwu_queue_wakelist+0xa9/0xe0 ? pty_write+0x85/0x90 ? file_tty_write.isra.33+0x214/0x330 ? process_echoes+0x60/0x60 ib_uverbs_ioctl+0xa7/0x110 [ib_uverbs] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x10d/0x8e0 ? vfs_write+0x17f/0x260 do_syscall_64+0x3c/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae Add the missing xarray initialization and remove the desc_size set.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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:>= 5.12.4, < 5.13>= 5.13, < 5.14.16= 5.15

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 5.13 / 5.14.16 or later
Fixed in 5.135.14.16
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel 5.14.16 or later, or 5.15.1 or later

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. Check if the current kernel version falls within the affected range: 5.12.4 <= version < 5.13, or 5.13 <= version < 5.14.16, or version 5.15
  3. If affected, upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.14.16 or later, or version 5.15.1 or later
  4. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  5. Verify the fix by running 'modinfo mlx5_ib' and checking the driver loads without errors
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver compatibility checks for hardware-specific modules; ensure backup and test in non-production 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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-47481 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2021-47481 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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