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Fencer Vulns
medium 4.7

CVE-2021-47408 json

netfilter: conntrack: serialize hash resizes and cleanups

published 2024-05-21 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-34413

cvss
4.7
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 16%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

netfilter: conntrack: serialize hash resizes and cleanups

Syzbot was able to trigger the following warning [1]

No repro found by syzbot yet but I was able to trigger similar issue by having 2 scripts running in parallel, changing conntrack hash sizes, and:

for j in `seq 1 1000` ; do unshare -n /bin/true >/dev/null ; done

It would take more than 5 minutes for net_namespace structures to be cleaned up.

This is because nf_ct_iterate_cleanup() has to restart everytime a resize happened.

By adding a mutex, we can serialize hash resizes and cleanups and also make get_next_corpse() faster by skipping over empty buckets.

Even without resizes in the picture, this patch considerably speeds up network namespace dismantles.

[1] INFO: task syz-executor.0:8312 can't die for more than 144 seconds. task:syz-executor.0 state:R running task stack:25672 pid: 8312 ppid: 6573 flags:0x00004006 Call Trace: context_switch kernel/sched/core.c:4955 [inline] __schedule+0x940/0x26f0 kernel/sched/core.c:6236 preempt_schedule_common+0x45/0xc0 kernel/sched/core.c:6408 preempt_schedule_thunk+0x16/0x18 arch/x86/entry/thunk_64.S:35 __local_bh_enable_ip+0x109/0x120 kernel/softirq.c:390 local_bh_enable include/linux/bottom_half.h:32 [inline] get_next_corpse net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2252 [inline] nf_ct_iterate_cleanup+0x15a/0x450 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2275 nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list+0x14c/0x4f0 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2469 ops_exit_list+0x10d/0x160 net/core/net_namespace.c:171 setup_net+0x639/0xa30 net/core/net_namespace.c:349 copy_net_ns+0x319/0x760 net/core/net_namespace.c:470 create_new_namespaces+0x3f6/0xb20 kernel/nsproxy.c:110 unshare_nsproxy_namespaces+0xc1/0x1f0 kernel/nsproxy.c:226 ksys_unshare+0x445/0x920 kernel/fork.c:3128 __do_sys_unshare kernel/fork.c:3202 [inline] __se_sys_unshare kernel/fork.c:3200 [inline] __x64_sys_unshare+0x2d/0x40 kernel/fork.c:3200 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae RIP: 0033:0x7f63da68e739 RSP: 002b:00007f63d7c05188 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000110 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f63da792f80 RCX: 00007f63da68e739 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000040000000 RBP: 00007f63da6e8cc4 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f63da792f80 R13: 00007fff50b75d3f R14: 00007f63d7c05300 R15: 0000000000022000

Showing all locks held in the system: 1 lock held by khungtaskd/27: #0: ffffffff8b980020 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:2}, at: debug_show_all_locks+0x53/0x260 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:6446 2 locks held by kworker/u4:2/153: #0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: arch_atomic64_set arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_64.h:34 [inline] #0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: arch_atomic_long_set include/linux/atomic/atomic-long.h:41 [inline] #0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: atomic_long_set include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:1198 [inline] #0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: set_work_data kernel/workqueue.c:634 [inline] #0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: set_work_pool_and_clear_pending kernel/workqueue.c:661 [inline] #0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x896/0x1690 kernel/workqueue.c:2268 #1: ffffc9000140fdb0 ((kfence_timer).work){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x8ca/0x1690 kernel/workqueue.c:2272 1 lock held by systemd-udevd/2970: 1 lock held by in:imklog/6258: #0: ffff88807f970ff0 (&f->f_pos_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __fdget_pos+0xe9/0x100 fs/file.c:990 3 locks held by kworker/1:6/8158: 1 lock held by syz-executor.0/8312: 2 locks held by kworker/u4:13/9320: 1 lock held by ---truncated---

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.10.71, 5.14.10, 5.15
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.14.12-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47408

  • 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-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP5 4.12.14-10.203.1
  • kernel-syms-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP5 4.12.14-10.203.1
  • kernel-rt_debug SLE Real Time 12 SP5 4.12.14-10.203.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP5 4.12.14-10.203.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1
  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP5, openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP5, openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2024:3566-1SUSE-SU-2024:2190-1SUSE-SU-2024:2189-1SUSE-SU-2024:2019-1SUSE-SU-2024:2011-1SUSE-SU-2024:2008-1

  • 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-2021-47408 updated cvss 4.7

kernel: netfilter: conntrack: serialize hash resizes and cleanups

  • 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: workaround, no fix planned “Red Hat has investigated whether a possible mitigation exists for this issue, and has not been able to identify a practical example. Please update the affected package as soon as possible.”
  • 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 “Red Hat has investigated whether a possible mitigation exists for this issue, and has not been able to identify a practical example. Please update the affected package as soon as possible.” 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 “Red Hat has investigated whether a possible mitigation exists for this issue, and has not been able to identify a practical example. Please update the affected package as soon as possible.” RHSA-2024:5102
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 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

0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 4.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA 3.1 4.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

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.