TI-2021-21646 Aliases CVE-2021-46981 GHSA-xgg4-mwfh-3vj5

nbd: Fix NULL pointer in flush_workqueue

LOW 24CWE-476Published 2024-02-28 · Updated 2026-05-23

Key facts

Attack vector: Local
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Attack complexity: Low
Impact type: Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability: None · None · High
Fix status: Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-476.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nbd: Fix NULL pointer in flush_workqueue Open /dev/nbdX first, the config_refs will be 1 and the pointers in nbd_device are still null. Disconnect /dev/nbdX, then reference a null recv_workq. The protection by config_refs in nbd_genl_disconnect is useless. [ 656.366194] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000020 [ 656.368943] #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode [ 656.369844] #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page [ 656.370717] PGD 10cc87067 P4D 10cc87067 PUD 1074b4067 PMD 0 [ 656.371693] Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP [ 656.372242] CPU: 5 PID: 7977 Comm: nbd-client Not tainted 5.11.0-rc5-00040-g76c057c84d28 #1 [ 656.373661] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS ?-20190727_073836-buildvm-ppc64le-16.ppc.fedoraproject.org-3.fc31 04/01/2014 [ 656.375904] RIP: 0010:mutex_lock+0x29/0x60 [ 656.376627] Code: 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 48 89 fd 48 83 05 6f d7 fe 08 01 e8 7a c3 ff ff 48 83 05 6a d7 fe 08 01 31 c0 65 48 8b 14 25 00 6d 01 00 <f0> 48 0f b1 55 d [ 656.378934] RSP: 0018:ffffc900005eb9b0 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 656.379350] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 656.379915] RDX: ffff888104cf2600 RSI: ffffffffaae8f452 RDI: 0000000000000020 [ 656.380473] RBP: 0000000000000020 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88813bd6b318 [ 656.381039] R10: 00000000000000c7 R11: fefefefefefefeff R12: ffff888102710b40 [ 656.381599] R13: ffffc900005eb9e0 R14: ffffffffb2930680 R15: ffff88810770ef00 [ 656.382166] FS: 00007fdf117ebb40(0000) GS:ffff88813bd40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 656.382806] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 656.383261] CR2: 0000000000000020 CR3: 0000000100c84000 CR4: 00000000000006e0 [ 656.383819] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 656.384370] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 656.384927] Call Trace: [ 656.385111] flush_workqueue+0x92/0x6c0 [ 656.385395] nbd_disconnect_and_put+0x81/0xd0 [ 656.385716] nbd_genl_disconnect+0x125/0x2a0 [ 656.386034] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0x102/0x1b0 [ 656.386422] genl_rcv_msg+0xfc/0x2b0 [ 656.386685] ? nbd_ioctl+0x490/0x490 [ 656.386954] ? genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0x1b0/0x1b0 [ 656.387354] netlink_rcv_skb+0x62/0x180 [ 656.387638] genl_rcv+0x34/0x60 [ 656.387874] netlink_unicast+0x26d/0x590 [ 656.388162] netlink_sendmsg+0x398/0x6c0 [ 656.388451] ? netlink_rcv_skb+0x180/0x180 [ 656.388750] ____sys_sendmsg+0x1da/0x320 [ 656.389038] ? ____sys_recvmsg+0x130/0x220 [ 656.389334] ___sys_sendmsg+0x8e/0xf0 [ 656.389605] ? ___sys_recvmsg+0xa2/0xf0 [ 656.389889] ? handle_mm_fault+0x1671/0x21d0 [ 656.390201] __sys_sendmsg+0x6d/0xe0 [ 656.390464] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x23/0x30 [ 656.390751] do_syscall_64+0x45/0x70 [ 656.391017] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9 To fix it, just add if (nbd->recv_workq) to nbd_disconnect_and_put().

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV

EPSS 0.0025 16th percentileScored 2026-11-07

Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 4.15, 4.20, 5.4 +5Red Hat: 2 without a fix

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

Vendor	Product	Affected versions	Fixed in	Status	Source
Linux	Linux	4.14.149 to before 4.15; 4.19.79 to before 4.20; 5.3.6 to before 5.4	4.15, 4.20, 5.4	Patch available	CNA
Linux	Linux	5.4 and later	5.4.120, 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13	Patch available	CNA

Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.14.149 to before 4.15; 4.19.79 to before 4.20; 5.3.6 to before 5.4 Fixed in 4.15, 4.20, 5.4 Patch available CNA
Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.4 and later Fixed in 5.4.120, 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 2

CPE	Versions	Role	Vendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::	5.4 to before 5.4.120; 5.5 to before 5.10.38; 5.11 to before 5.11.22; 5.12 to before 5.12.5	Vulnerable	Linux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1::::::	5.13 rc1	Vulnerable	Linux

cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.4 to before 5.4.120; 5.5 to before 5.10.38; 5.11 to before 5.11.22; 5.12 to before 5.12.5 Vulnerable ·Linux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.15, 4.20, 5.4
Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.120, 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Product	Status	Plan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Affected	No fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	Affected	No fix planned: Out of support scope

Not affected: 2 products

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-46981
2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xgg4-mwfh-3vj5

References

Patch 5

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

See all 15278 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences