net/smc: fix kernel panic caused by race of smc_sock
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix kernel panic caused by race of smc_sock A crash occurs when smc_cdc_tx_handler() tries to access smc_sock but smc_release() has already freed it. [ 4570.695099] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 000000002eae9e88 [ 4570.696048] #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode [ 4570.696728] #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page [ 4570.697401] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 4570.697716] Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 4570.698228] CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.16.0-rc4+ #111 [ 4570.699013] Hardware name: Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud ECS, BIOS 8c24b4c 04/0 [ 4570.699933] RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_lock+0x1a/0x30 <...> [ 4570.711446] Call Trace: [ 4570.711746] <IRQ> [ 4570.711992] smc_cdc_tx_handler+0x41/0xc0 [ 4570.712470] smc_wr_tx_tasklet_fn+0x213/0x560 [ 4570.712981] ? smc_cdc_tx_dismisser+0x10/0x10 [ 4570.713489] tasklet_action_common.isra.17+0x66/0x140 [ 4570.714083] __do_softirq+0x123/0x2f4 [ 4570.714521] irq_exit_rcu+0xc4/0xf0 [ 4570.714934] common_interrupt+0xba/0xe0 Though smc_cdc_tx_handler() checked the existence of smc connection, smc_release() may have already dismissed and released the smc socket before smc_cdc_tx_handler() further visits it. smc_cdc_tx_handler() |smc_release() if (!conn) | | |smc_cdc_tx_dismiss_slots() | smc_cdc_tx_dismisser() | |sock_put(&smc->sk) <- last sock_put, | smc_sock freed bh_lock_sock(&smc->sk) (panic) | To make sure we won't receive any CDC messages after we free the smc_sock, add a refcount on the smc_connection for inflight CDC message(posted to the QP but haven't received related CQE), and don't release the smc_connection until all the inflight CDC messages haven been done, for both success or failed ones. Using refcount on CDC messages brings another problem: when the link is going to be destroyed, smcr_link_clear() will reset the QP, which then remove all the pending CQEs related to the QP in the CQ. To make sure all the CQEs will always come back so the refcount on the smc_connection can always reach 0, smc_ib_modify_qp_reset() was replaced by smc_ib_modify_qp_error(). And remove the timeout in smc_wr_tx_wait_no_pending_sends() since we need to wait for all pending WQEs done, or we may encounter use-after- free when handling CQEs. For IB device removal routine, we need to wait for all the QPs on that device been destroyed before we can destroy CQs on the device, or the refcount on smc_connection won't reach 0 and smc_sock cannot be released.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.90, 5.15.13, 5.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-46925
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-j3g9-72cw-7wcp
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2021-46925 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-46925 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-j3g9-72cw-7wcp · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-46925 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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