nvmet-rdma: Fix NULL deref when SEND is completed with error
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 fixed, 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet-rdma: Fix NULL deref when SEND is completed with error When running some traffic and taking down the link on peer, a retry counter exceeded error is received. This leads to nvmet_rdma_error_comp which tried accessing the cq_context to obtain the queue. The cq_context is no longer valid after the fix to use shared CQ mechanism and should be obtained similar to how it is obtained in other functions from the wc->qp. [ 905.786331] nvmet_rdma: SEND for CQE 0x00000000e3337f90 failed with status transport retry counter exceeded (12). [ 905.832048] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000048 [ 905.839919] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 905.842464] Oops: 0000 1 SMP NOPTI [ 905.846144] CPU: 13 PID: 1557 Comm: kworker/13:1H Kdump: loaded Tainted: G OE --------- - - 4.18.0-304.el8.x86_64 #1 [ 905.872135] RIP: 0010:nvmet_rdma_error_comp+0x5/0x1b [nvmet_rdma] [ 905.878259] Code: 19 4f c0 e8 89 b3 a5 f6 e9 5b e0 ff ff 0f b7 75 14 4c 89 ea 48 c7 c7 08 1a 4f c0 e8 71 b3 a5 f6 e9 4b e0 ff ff 0f 1f 44 00 00 <48> 8b 47 48 48 85 c0 74 08 48 89 c7 e9 98 bf 49 00 e9 c3 e3 ff ff [ 905.897135] RSP: 0018:ffffab601c45fe28 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 905.902387] RAX: 0000000000000065 RBX: ffff9e729ea2f800 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 905.909558] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff9e72df9567c8 RDI: 0000000000000000 [ 905.916731] RBP: ffff9e729ea2b400 R08: 000000000000074d R09: 0000000000000074 [ 905.923903] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffffab601c45fcc0 R12: 0000000000000010 [ 905.931074] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000010 R15: ffff9e729ea2f400 [ 905.938247] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9e72df940000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 905.938249] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 905.950067] nvmet_rdma: SEND for CQE 0x00000000c7356cca failed with status transport retry counter exceeded (12). [ 905.961855] CR2: 0000000000000048 CR3: 000000678d010004 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [ 905.961855] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 905.961856] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 905.961857] PKRU: 55555554 [ 906.010315] Call Trace: [ 906.012778] __ib_process_cq+0x89/0x170 [ib_core] [ 906.017509] ib_cq_poll_work+0x26/0x80 [ib_core] [ 906.022152] process_one_work+0x1a7/0x360 [ 906.026182] ? create_worker+0x1a0/0x1a0 [ 906.030123] worker_thread+0x30/0x390 [ 906.033802] ? create_worker+0x1a0/0x1a0 [ 906.037744] kthread+0x116/0x130 [ 906.040988] ? kthread_flush_work_fn+0x10/0x10 [ 906.045456] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x40
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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 5.9 and later | 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.9 and later Fixed in 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2021:4356 Released 2021-11-09 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-348.el8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-348.el8, kernel-4.18.0-348.el8, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-348.el8 +19
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 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2021:4356 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2021:4356 |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-46983
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-fxr5-32j9-7wfr
- 2026-10-25 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
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-2021-46983 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-46983 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-fxr5-32j9-7wfr · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-46983 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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