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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.5

CVE-2021-47304 json

tcp: fix tcp_init_transfer() to not reset icsk_ca_initialized

published 2024-05-21 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-34309

cvss
5.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 14%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tcp: fix tcp_init_transfer() to not reset icsk_ca_initialized

This commit fixes a bug (found by syzkaller) that could cause spurious double-initializations for congestion control modules, which could cause memory leaks or other problems for congestion control modules (like CDG) that allocate memory in their init functions.

The buggy scenario constructed by syzkaller was something like:

(1) create a TCP socket (2) initiate a TFO connect via sendto() (3) while socket is in TCP_SYN_SENT, call setsockopt(TCP_CONGESTION), which calls: tcp_set_congestion_control() -> tcp_reinit_congestion_control() -> tcp_init_congestion_control() (4) receive ACK, connection is established, call tcp_init_transfer(), set icsk_ca_initialized=0 (without first calling cc->release()), call tcp_init_congestion_control() again.

Note that in this sequence tcp_init_congestion_control() is called twice without a cc->release() call in between. Thus, for CC modules that allocate memory in their init() function, e.g, CDG, a memory leak may occur. The syzkaller tool managed to find a reproducer that triggered such a leak in CDG.

The bug was introduced when that commit 8919a9b31eb4 ("tcp: Only init congestion control if not initialized already") introduced icsk_ca_initialized and set icsk_ca_initialized to 0 in tcp_init_transfer(), missing the possibility for a sequence like the one above, where a process could call setsockopt(TCP_CONGESTION) in state TCP_SYN_SENT (i.e. after the connect() or TFO open sendmsg()), which would call tcp_init_congestion_control(). It did not intend to reset any initialization that the user had already explicitly made; it just missed the possibility of that particular sequence (which syzkaller managed to find).

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.10.53, 5.13.5, 5.14
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.14.6-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47304

  • kernel-rt RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-kvm RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-debug-kvm RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-debug-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-debug-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel-rt-modules-extra RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10

red hat advisories RHSA-2024:5102RHSA-2024:5101

  • kernel AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • perf AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • bpftool AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • kernel-core AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • kernel-tools AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • python3-perf AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • kernel-modules AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
  • kernel-zfcpdump AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10

almalinux advisories ALSA-2024:5101ALSA-2024:5102

  • kernel Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10.cloud.0.1
  • kernel-rt Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10
  • kernel Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10

rocky linux advisories RXSA-2024:5101RLSA-2024:5102RLSA-2024:5101

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-2021-47304 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: tcp: fix tcp_init_transfer() to not reset icsk_ca_initialized

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, kernel 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, bpftool 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, kernel-core 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, kernel-tools 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, python3-perf 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, +15 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:5101
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-kvm 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, +4 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-modules 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules-extra 4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:5102
  • 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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

0.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 14% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

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.