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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2021-47557

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.83 / 5.15.6 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/sched: sch_ets: don't peek at classes beyond 'nbands' when the number of DRR classes decreases, the round-robin active list can contain elements that have already been freed in ets_qdisc_change(). As a consequence, it's possible to see a NULL dereference crash, caused by the attempt to call cl->qdisc->ops->peek(cl->qdisc) when cl->qdisc is NULL: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 1 PID: 910 Comm: mausezahn Not tainted 5.16.0-rc1+ #475 Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.11.1-4.module+el8.1.0+4066+0f1aadab 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:ets_qdisc_dequeue+0x129/0x2c0 [sch_ets] Code: c5 01 41 39 ad e4 02 00 00 0f 87 18 ff ff ff 49 8b 85 c0 02 00 00 49 39 c4 0f 84 ba 00 00 00 49 8b ad c0 02 00 00 48 8b 7d 10 <48> 8b 47 18 48 8b 40 38 0f ae e8 ff d0 48 89 c3 48 85 c0 0f 84 9d RSP: 0000:ffffbb36c0b5fdd8 EFLAGS: 00010287 RAX: ffff956678efed30 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: ffffffff9b938dc9 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffff956678efed30 R08: e2f3207fe360129c R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff956678efeac0 R13: ffff956678efe800 R14: ffff956611545000 R15: ffff95667ac8f100 FS: 00007f2aa9120740(0000) GS:ffff95667b800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000018 CR3: 000000011070c000 CR4: 0000000000350ee0 Call Trace: <TASK> qdisc_peek_dequeued+0x29/0x70 [sch_ets] tbf_dequeue+0x22/0x260 [sch_tbf] __qdisc_run+0x7f/0x630 net_tx_action+0x290/0x4c0 __do_softirq+0xee/0x4f8 irq_exit_rcu+0xf4/0x130 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x52/0xc0 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x12/0x20 RIP: 0033:0x7f2aa7fc9ad4 Code: b9 ff ff 48 8b 54 24 18 48 83 c4 08 48 89 ee 48 89 df 5b 5d e9 ed fc ff ff 0f 1f 00 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa <53> 48 83 ec 10 48 8b 05 10 64 33 00 48 8b 00 48 85 c0 0f 85 84 00 RSP: 002b:00007ffe5d33fab8 EFLAGS: 00000202 RAX: 0000000000000002 RBX: 0000561f72c31460 RCX: 0000561f72c31720 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000561f72c31722 RDI: 0000561f72c31720 RBP: 000000000000002a R08: 00007ffe5d33fa40 R09: 0000000000000014 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000561f7187e380 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000561f72c31460 </TASK> Modules linked in: sch_ets sch_tbf dummy rfkill iTCO_wdt intel_rapl_msr iTCO_vendor_support intel_rapl_common joydev virtio_balloon lpc_ich i2c_i801 i2c_smbus pcspkr ip_tables xfs libcrc32c crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul crc32c_intel ahci libahci ghash_clmulni_intel serio_raw libata virtio_blk virtio_console virtio_net net_failover failover sunrpc dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_mod CR2: 0000000000000018 Ensuring that 'alist' was never zeroed [1] was not sufficient, we need to remove from the active list those elements that are no more SP nor DRR. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/60d274838bf09777f0371253416e8af71360bc08.1633609148.git.dcaratti@redhat.com/ v3: fix race between ets_qdisc_change() and ets_qdisc_dequeue() delisting DRR classes beyond 'nbands' in ets_qdisc_change() with the qdisc lock acquired, thanks to Cong Wang. v2: when a NULL qdisc is found in the DRR active list, try to dequeue skb from the next list item.

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:>= 5.6, < 5.10.83>= 5.11, < 5.15.6= 5.16

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 5.10.83 / 5.15.6 or later
Fixed in 5.10.835.15.6
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Linux kernel 5.10.83+, 5.15.6+, or 5.17+ (any stable kernel version beyond the affected versions)

  1. Identify the current Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine if the running kernel version falls within the affected range: >= 5.6 and < 5.10.83, OR >= 5.11 and < 5.15.6, OR exactly 5.16
  3. Schedule a maintenance window for kernel upgrade as this requires system reboot
  4. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version: 5.10.83 or later in the 5.10.y stable tree, OR 5.15.6 or later in the 5.15.y stable tree, OR 5.17 or later in newer stable trees
  5. After upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the sch_ets module loads without issues
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting services; ensure compatibility with existing system configurations and validate that dependent modules (sch_ets, sch_tbf, etc.) work correctly with the new kernel version

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-2021-47557 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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