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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2021-3612 json

An out-of-bounds memory write flaw was found in the Linux kernel's joystick devices subsystem in versions before 5.9-rc1, in the way the us…

published 2021-07-09 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-26916

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.7%
EPSS 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 52%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

An out-of-bounds memory write flaw was found in the Linux kernel's joystick devices subsystem in versions before 5.9-rc1, in the way the user calls ioctl JSIOCSBTNMAP. This flaw allows a local user to crash the system or possibly escalate their privileges on the system. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity, as well as system availability.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 5.9.0
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.10.46-3

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3612

  • linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-156.163
  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-84.94
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1111.118
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1056.59
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1052.56
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1052.55
  • linux-kvm Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1099.101
  • linux-kvm Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1046.48

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2021-3612

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • bpftool RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-tools RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • python3-perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-zfcpdump RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8

red hat advisories RHSA-2022:1988RHSA-2022:1975

  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP3, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP3, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP3, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 +2 more 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-preempt SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP3, SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP3, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-default-base SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 5.3.18-59.19.1.18.10.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2021:2687-1SUSE-SU-2021:2645-1SUSE-SU-2021:2643-1SUSE-SU-2021:2599-2SUSE-SU-2021:2599-1SUSE-SU-2021:2438-1

  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-preempt openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 15.3 5.3.18-59.19.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2021:2687-1openSUSE-SU-2021:2645-1openSUSE-SU-2021:1076-1

  • kernel AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • perf AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • bpftool AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-core AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-tools AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • python3-perf AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-modules AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-debug-core AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8

almalinux advisories ALSA-2022:1988

  • kernel Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
  • kernel-rt Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2022:1988RLSA-2022:1975

  • linux Arch Linux 5.13.4.arch1-1
  • linux-zen Arch Linux 5.13.4.zen1-1
  • linux-hardened Arch Linux 5.12.19.hardened1-1
  • linux-lts Arch Linux 5.10.52-1

arch linux advisories AVG-2181AVG-2182AVG-2183AVG-2184

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2021-3612 updated cvss 7.8

kernel: joydev: zero size passed to joydev_handle_JSIOCSBTNMAP()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-alt, python-perf, +9 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, kernel 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, bpftool 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, kernel-core 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, kernel-tools 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, python3-perf 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, +15 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:1988
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-kvm 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, +4 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-debug-modules 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, kernel-rt-modules-extra 4.18.0-372.9.1.rt7.166.el8, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:1975
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.69% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 52% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • n/a kernel

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.