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TI-2021-21793 Aliases CVE-2021-47131GHSA-xrvj-3vx6-wwh7

net/tls: Fix use-after-free after the TLS device goes down and up

Priority LOW 37CWE-416Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Impact type
Code execution
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-416 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tls: Fix use-after-free after the TLS device goes down and up When a netdev with active TLS offload goes down, tls_device_down is called to stop the offload and tear down the TLS context. However, the socket stays alive, and it still points to the TLS context, which is now deallocated. If a netdev goes up, while the connection is still active, and the data flow resumes after a number of TCP retransmissions, it will lead to a use-after-free of the TLS context. This commit addresses this bug by keeping the context alive until its normal destruction, and implements the necessary fallbacks, so that the connection can resume in software (non-offloaded) kTLS mode. On the TX side tls_sw_fallback is used to encrypt all packets. The RX side already has all the necessary fallbacks, because receiving non-decrypted packets is supported. The thing needed on the RX side is to block resync requests, which are normally produced after receiving non-decrypted packets. The necessary synchronization is implemented for a graceful teardown: first the fallbacks are deployed, then the driver resources are released (it used to be possible to have a tls_dev_resync after tls_dev_del). A new flag called TLS_RX_DEV_DEGRADED is added to indicate the fallback mode. It's used to skip the RX resync logic completely, as it becomes useless, and some objects may be released (for example, resync_async, which is allocated and freed by the driver).

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0075 55th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.10.43, 5.12.10, 5.13Red 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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux4.18 and later5.10.43, 5.12.10, 5.13Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.18 and later Fixed in 5.10.43, 5.12.10, 5.13 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 5

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*4.18 to before 5.10.43; 5.11 to before 5.12.10VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc4VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 4.18 to before 5.10.43; 5.11 to before 5.12.10 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.43, 5.12.10, 5.13

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

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

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Not affected: 2 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47131
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xrvj-3vx6-wwh7

References

  • 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