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Fencer Vulns
medium 4.7

CVE-2021-47435 json

dm: fix mempool NULL pointer race when completing IO

published 2024-05-22 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-34440

cvss
4.7
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:

dm: fix mempool NULL pointer race when completing IO

dm_io_dec_pending() calls end_io_acct() first and will then dec md in-flight pending count. But if a task is swapping DM table at same time this can result in a crash due to mempool->elements being NULL:

task1 task2 do_resume ->do_suspend ->dm_wait_for_completion bio_endio ->clone_endio ->dm_io_dec_pending ->end_io_acct ->wakeup task1 ->dm_swap_table ->__bind ->__bind_mempools ->bioset_exit ->mempool_exit ->free_io

[ 67.330330] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 ...... [ 67.330494] pstate: 80400085 (Nzcv daIf +PAN -UAO) [ 67.330510] pc : mempool_free+0x70/0xa0 [ 67.330515] lr : mempool_free+0x4c/0xa0 [ 67.330520] sp : ffffff8008013b20 [ 67.330524] x29: ffffff8008013b20 x28: 0000000000000004 [ 67.330530] x27: ffffffa8c2ff40a0 x26: 00000000ffff1cc8 [ 67.330535] x25: 0000000000000000 x24: ffffffdada34c800 [ 67.330541] x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffffffdada34c800 [ 67.330547] x21: 00000000ffff1cc8 x20: ffffffd9a1304d80 [ 67.330552] x19: ffffffdada34c970 x18: 000000b312625d9c [ 67.330558] x17: 00000000002dcfbf x16: 00000000000006dd [ 67.330563] x15: 000000000093b41e x14: 0000000000000010 [ 67.330569] x13: 0000000000007f7a x12: 0000000034155555 [ 67.330574] x11: 0000000000000001 x10: 0000000000000001 [ 67.330579] x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : 0000000000000000 [ 67.330585] x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : ffffff80148b5c1a [ 67.330590] x5 : ffffff8008013ae0 x4 : 0000000000000001 [ 67.330596] x3 : ffffff80080139c8 x2 : ffffff801083bab8 [ 67.330601] x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffffffdada34c970 [ 67.330609] Call trace: [ 67.330616] mempool_free+0x70/0xa0 [ 67.330627] bio_put+0xf8/0x110 [ 67.330638] dec_pending+0x13c/0x230 [ 67.330644] clone_endio+0x90/0x180 [ 67.330649] bio_endio+0x198/0x1b8 [ 67.330655] dec_pending+0x190/0x230 [ 67.330660] clone_endio+0x90/0x180 [ 67.330665] bio_endio+0x198/0x1b8 [ 67.330673] blk_update_request+0x214/0x428 [ 67.330683] scsi_end_request+0x2c/0x300 [ 67.330688] scsi_io_completion+0xa0/0x710 [ 67.330695] scsi_finish_command+0xd8/0x110 [ 67.330700] scsi_softirq_done+0x114/0x148 [ 67.330708] blk_done_softirq+0x74/0xd0 [ 67.330716] __do_softirq+0x18c/0x374 [ 67.330724] irq_exit+0xb4/0xb8 [ 67.330732] __handle_domain_irq+0x84/0xc0 [ 67.330737] gic_handle_irq+0x148/0x1b0 [ 67.330744] el1_irq+0xe8/0x190 [ 67.330753] lpm_cpuidle_enter+0x4f8/0x538 [ 67.330759] cpuidle_enter_state+0x1fc/0x398 [ 67.330764] cpuidle_enter+0x18/0x20 [ 67.330772] do_idle+0x1b4/0x290 [ 67.330778] cpu_startup_entry+0x20/0x28 [ 67.330786] secondary_start_kernel+0x160/0x170

Fix this by: 1) Establishing pointers to 'struct dm_io' members in dm_io_dec_pending() so that they may be passed into end_io_acct() _after_ free_io() is called. 2) Moving end_io_acct() after free_io().

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 4.9.313, 4.14.278, 4.19.242, 5.4.193, 5.10.113, 5.14.14, 5.15
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.14.16-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47435

  • linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-191.202
  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-124.140
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1139.150
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1083.90
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1086.94
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1031.35
  • linux-iot Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1004.6
  • linux-kvm Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1125.130

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47435

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-2022:5220RHSA-2022:5626RHSA-2022:1975

  • 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
  • kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP5, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP5, openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1
  • kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP5, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP5, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 +4 more 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1
  • kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP5, openSUSE Leap 15.5 5.14.21-150500.55.68.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2024:2190-1SUSE-SU-2024:2189-1SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1SUSE-SU-2024:2184-1SUSE-SU-2024:2019-1SUSE-SU-2024:2011-1

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-2021-47435 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: dm: fix mempool NULL pointer race when completing IO

  • 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 CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v. 8.2) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5220
  • 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
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:1988
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v. 8.2) perf 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, kernel 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, bpftool 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, kernel-core 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, kernel-tools 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, python3-perf 4.18.0-193.87.1.el8_2, +15 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5220
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.8.4) perf 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, bpftool 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-core 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-tools 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, python3-perf 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, +15 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5626
  • 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 CRB EUS (v.8.4) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-305.57.1.el8_4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5626
  • 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
show 1 more
  • 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

0.24% 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 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

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.