kyber: fix out of bounds access when preempted
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 6 fixed, 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-129 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kyber: fix out of bounds access when preempted __blk_mq_sched_bio_merge() gets the ctx and hctx for the current CPU and passes the hctx to ->bio_merge(). kyber_bio_merge() then gets the ctx for the current CPU again and uses that to get the corresponding Kyber context in the passed hctx. However, the thread may be preempted between the two calls to blk_mq_get_ctx(), and the ctx returned the second time may no longer correspond to the passed hctx. This "works" accidentally most of the time, but it can cause us to read garbage if the second ctx came from an hctx with more ctx's than the first one (i.e., if ctx->index_hw[hctx->type] > hctx->nr_ctx). This manifested as this UBSAN array index out of bounds error reported by Jakub: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in ../kernel/locking/qspinlock.c:130:9 index 13106 is out of range for type 'long unsigned int [128]' Call Trace: dump_stack+0xa4/0xe5 ubsan_epilogue+0x5/0x40 __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds.cold.13+0x2a/0x34 queued_spin_lock_slowpath+0x476/0x480 do_raw_spin_lock+0x1c2/0x1d0 kyber_bio_merge+0x112/0x180 blk_mq_submit_bio+0x1f5/0x1100 submit_bio_noacct+0x7b0/0x870 submit_bio+0xc2/0x3a0 btrfs_map_bio+0x4f0/0x9d0 btrfs_submit_data_bio+0x24e/0x310 submit_one_bio+0x7f/0xb0 submit_extent_page+0xc4/0x440 __extent_writepage_io+0x2b8/0x5e0 __extent_writepage+0x28d/0x6e0 extent_write_cache_pages+0x4d7/0x7a0 extent_writepages+0xa2/0x110 do_writepages+0x8f/0x180 __writeback_single_inode+0x99/0x7f0 writeback_sb_inodes+0x34e/0x790 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x9e/0x120 wb_writeback+0x4d2/0x660 wb_workfn+0x64d/0xa10 process_one_work+0x53a/0xa80 worker_thread+0x69/0x5b0 kthread+0x20b/0x240 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 Only Kyber uses the hctx, so fix it by passing the request_queue to ->bio_merge() instead. BFQ and mq-deadline just use that, and Kyber can map the queues itself to avoid the mismatch.
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 | 4.18 and later | 5.4.120, 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.18 and later Fixed in 5.4.120, 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.120, 5.10.38, 5.11.22, 5.12.5, 5.13
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2024:7000 Released 2024-09-24 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10 +19
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10
- RHSA-2024:7001 Released 2024-09-24 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel-rt security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10 +9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10 +7
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. 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 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| RHOAI-2.13-RHEL-8 | Fixed | — |
| RHOAI-2.14-RHEL-8 | Fixed | — |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7000 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7000 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7001 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2024:7001 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-46984
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-4qp7-5rvw-5428
- 2026-10-31 Fix available: RHOAI-2.13-RHEL-8, RHOAI-2.14-RHEL-8 · Red Hat
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b6b4b90b74c27bea968c214d820ba4254b903a5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/54dbe2d2c1fcabf650c7a8b747601da355cd7f9f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a287cd84e047045f5a4d4da793414e848de627c6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ef3c76540c49167a0bc3d5f80d00fd1fc4586df
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efed9a3337e341bd0989161b97453b52567bc59d
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-2021-46984 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-46984 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-4qp7-5rvw-5428 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-46984 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences