kfence: fix memory leak when cat kfence objects
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · Low
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-401.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kfence: fix memory leak when cat kfence objects Hulk robot reported a kmemleak problem: unreferenced object 0xffff93d1d8cc02e8 (size 248): comm "cat", pid 23327, jiffies 4624670141 (age 495992.217s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 40 85 19 d4 93 ff ff 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 .@.............. 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: seq_open+0x2a/0x80 full_proxy_open+0x167/0x1e0 do_dentry_open+0x1e1/0x3a0 path_openat+0x961/0xa20 do_filp_open+0xae/0x120 do_sys_openat2+0x216/0x2f0 do_sys_open+0x57/0x80 do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9 unreferenced object 0xffff93d419854000 (size 4096): comm "cat", pid 23327, jiffies 4624670141 (age 495992.217s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 6b 66 65 6e 63 65 2d 23 32 35 30 3a 20 30 78 30 kfence-#250: 0x0 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 37 35 34 62 64 61 31 32 2d 0000000754bda12- backtrace: seq_read_iter+0x313/0x440 seq_read+0x14b/0x1a0 full_proxy_read+0x56/0x80 vfs_read+0xa5/0x1b0 ksys_read+0xa0/0xf0 do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9 I find that we can easily reproduce this problem with the following commands: cat /sys/kernel/debug/kfence/objects echo scan > /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak The leaked memory is allocated in the stack below: do_syscall_64 do_sys_open do_dentry_open full_proxy_open seq_open ---> alloc seq_file vfs_read full_proxy_read seq_read seq_read_iter traverse ---> alloc seq_buf And it should have been released in the following process: do_syscall_64 syscall_exit_to_user_mode exit_to_user_mode_prepare task_work_run ____fput __fput full_proxy_release ---> free here However, the release function corresponding to file_operations is not implemented in kfence. As a result, a memory leak occurs. Therefore, the solution to this problem is to implement the corresponding release function.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
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 | 5.12 and later | 5.15.12, 5.16 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.12 and later Fixed in 5.15.12, 5.16 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 7
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.12 to before 5.15.12 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.16 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.16 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.16 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.16 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.16 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.16 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.12 to before 5.15.12 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.12, 5.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47089
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-97gj-q9fx-vc88
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-2021-47089 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-47089 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-97gj-q9fx-vc88 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-47089 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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