dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2021-47640

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.189 / 5.10.110 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: powerpc/kasan: Fix early region not updated correctly The shadow's page table is not updated when PTE_RPN_SHIFT is 24 and PAGE_SHIFT is 12. It not only causes false positives but also false negative as shown the following text. Fix it by bringing the logic of kasan_early_shadow_page_entry here. 1. False Positive: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: vmalloc-out-of-bounds in pcpu_alloc+0x508/0xa50 Write of size 16 at addr f57f3be0 by task swapper/0/1 CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.15.0-12267-gdebe436e77c7 #1 Call Trace: [c80d1c20] [c07fe7b8] dump_stack_lvl+0x4c/0x6c (unreliable) [c80d1c40] [c02ff668] print_address_description.constprop.0+0x88/0x300 [c80d1c70] [c02ff45c] kasan_report+0x1ec/0x200 [c80d1cb0] [c0300b20] kasan_check_range+0x160/0x2f0 [c80d1cc0] [c03018a4] memset+0x34/0x90 [c80d1ce0] [c0280108] pcpu_alloc+0x508/0xa50 [c80d1d40] [c02fd7bc] __kmem_cache_create+0xfc/0x570 [c80d1d70] [c0283d64] kmem_cache_create_usercopy+0x274/0x3e0 [c80d1db0] [c2036580] init_sd+0xc4/0x1d0 [c80d1de0] [c00044a0] do_one_initcall+0xc0/0x33c [c80d1eb0] [c2001624] kernel_init_freeable+0x2c8/0x384 [c80d1ef0] [c0004b14] kernel_init+0x24/0x170 [c80d1f10] [c001b26c] ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x64 Memory state around the buggy address: f57f3a80: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f57f3b00: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 >f57f3b80: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 ^ f57f3c00: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f57f3c80: f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 f8 ================================================================== 2. False Negative (with KASAN tests): ================================================================== Before fix: ok 45 - kmalloc_double_kzfree # vmalloc_oob: EXPECTATION FAILED at lib/test_kasan.c:1039 KASAN failure expected in "((volatile char *)area)[3100]", but none occurred not ok 46 - vmalloc_oob not ok 1 - kasan ================================================================== After fix: ok 1 - kasan

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-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write 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:>= 5.4, < 5.4.189>= 5.5, < 5.10.110>= 5.11, < 5.15.33>= 5.16, < 5.16.19>= 5.17, < 5.17.2

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 5.4.189 / 5.10.110 / 5.15.33 or later
Fixed in 5.4.1895.10.1105.15.33
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.4.189+, 5.10.110+, 5.15.33+, or 5.16.19+ depending on which branch is in use

  1. Identify the current running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which kernel branch (5.4.x, 5.10.x, 5.15.x, or 5.16.x) the system is running
  3. For 5.4.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.4.189 or later
  4. For 5.10.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.10.110 or later
  5. For 5.15.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.15.33 or later
  6. For 5.16.x kernels: upgrade to version 5.16.19 or later
  7. After upgrade, verify the fix is included by checking the kernel version or the specific commit 5a3d8f3192a409893c57808cc935e16484df1068 is in the changelog
  8. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching system utilities and drivers; ensure compatibility with hardware and any out-of-tree modules 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 $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-47640 — 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-2021-47640 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