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TI-2021-21798 Aliases CVE-2021-47136GHSA-7cg4-mp48-cggr

net: zero-initialize tc skb extension on allocation

Priority LOW 38CWE-908Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
Low · Low · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: zero-initialize tc skb extension on allocation Function skb_ext_add() doesn't initialize created skb extension with any value and leaves it up to the user. However, since extension of type TC_SKB_EXT originally contained only single value tc_skb_ext->chain its users used to just assign the chain value without setting whole extension memory to zero first. This assumption changed when TC_SKB_EXT extension was extended with additional fields but not all users were updated to initialize the new fields which leads to use of uninitialized memory afterwards. UBSAN log: [ 778.299821] UBSAN: invalid-load in net/openvswitch/flow.c:899:28 [ 778.301495] load of value 107 is not a valid value for type '_Bool' [ 778.303215] CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.12.0-rc7+ #2 [ 778.304933] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 778.307901] Call Trace: [ 778.308680] <IRQ> [ 778.309358] dump_stack+0xbb/0x107 [ 778.310307] ubsan_epilogue+0x5/0x40 [ 778.311167] __ubsan_handle_load_invalid_value.cold+0x43/0x48 [ 778.312454] ? memset+0x20/0x40 [ 778.313230] ovs_flow_key_extract.cold+0xf/0x14 [openvswitch] [ 778.314532] ovs_vport_receive+0x19e/0x2e0 [openvswitch] [ 778.315749] ? ovs_vport_find_upcall_portid+0x330/0x330 [openvswitch] [ 778.317188] ? create_prof_cpu_mask+0x20/0x20 [ 778.318220] ? arch_stack_walk+0x82/0xf0 [ 778.319153] ? secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0xb0/0xbb [ 778.320399] ? stack_trace_save+0x91/0xc0 [ 778.321362] ? stack_trace_consume_entry+0x160/0x160 [ 778.322517] ? lock_release+0x52e/0x760 [ 778.323444] netdev_frame_hook+0x323/0x610 [openvswitch] [ 778.324668] ? ovs_netdev_get_vport+0xe0/0xe0 [openvswitch] [ 778.325950] __netif_receive_skb_core+0x771/0x2db0 [ 778.327067] ? lock_downgrade+0x6e0/0x6f0 [ 778.328021] ? lock_acquire+0x565/0x720 [ 778.328940] ? generic_xdp_tx+0x4f0/0x4f0 [ 778.329902] ? inet_gro_receive+0x2a7/0x10a0 [ 778.330914] ? lock_downgrade+0x6f0/0x6f0 [ 778.331867] ? udp4_gro_receive+0x4c4/0x13e0 [ 778.332876] ? lock_release+0x52e/0x760 [ 778.333808] ? dev_gro_receive+0xcc8/0x2380 [ 778.334810] ? lock_downgrade+0x6f0/0x6f0 [ 778.335769] __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x295/0x820 [ 778.336955] ? process_backlog+0x780/0x780 [ 778.337941] ? mlx5e_rep_tc_netdevice_event_unregister+0x20/0x20 [mlx5_core] [ 778.339613] ? seqcount_lockdep_reader_access.constprop.0+0xa7/0xc0 [ 778.341033] ? kvm_clock_get_cycles+0x14/0x20 [ 778.342072] netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x5f5/0xcb0 [ 778.343288] ? __kasan_kmalloc+0x7a/0x90 [ 778.344234] ? mlx5e_handle_rx_cqe_mpwrq+0x9e0/0x9e0 [mlx5_core] [ 778.345676] ? mlx5e_xmit_xdp_frame_mpwqe+0x14d0/0x14d0 [mlx5_core] [ 778.347140] ? __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x820/0x820 [ 778.348351] ? mlx5e_post_rx_mpwqes+0xa6/0x25d0 [mlx5_core] [ 778.349688] ? napi_gro_flush+0x26c/0x3c0 [ 778.350641] napi_complete_done+0x188/0x6b0 [ 778.351627] mlx5e_napi_poll+0x373/0x1b80 [mlx5_core] [ 778.352853] __napi_poll+0x9f/0x510 [ 778.353704] ? mlx5_flow_namespace_set_mode+0x260/0x260 [mlx5_core] [ 778.355158] net_rx_action+0x34c/0xa40 [ 778.356060] ? napi_threaded_poll+0x3d0/0x3d0 [ 778.357083] ? sched_clock_cpu+0x18/0x190 [ 778.358041] ? __common_interrupt+0x8e/0x1a0 [ 778.359045] __do_softirq+0x1ce/0x984 [ 778.359938] __irq_exit_rcu+0x137/0x1d0 [ 778.360865] irq_exit_rcu+0xa/0x20 [ 778.361708] common_interrupt+0x80/0xa0 [ 778.362640] </IRQ> [ 778.363212] asm_common_interrupt+0x1e/0x40 [ 778.364204] RIP: 0010:native_safe_halt+0xe/0x10 [ 778.365273] Code: 4f ff ff ff 4c 89 e7 e8 50 3f 40 fe e9 dc fe ff ff 48 89 df e8 43 3f 40 fe eb 90 cc e9 07 00 00 00 0f 00 2d 74 05 62 00 fb f4 <c3> 90 e9 07 00 00 00 0f 00 2d 64 05 62 00 f4 c3 cc cc 0f 1f 44 00 [ 778.369355] RSP: 0018:ffffffff84407e48 EFLAGS: 00000246 [ 778.370570] RAX ---truncated---

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00544 45th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.8, 5.10.42, 5.12.9 +1Red Hat: 3 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
LinuxLinux5.7.15 to before 5.85.8Patch availableCNA
LinuxLinux5.9 and later5.10.42, 5.12.9, 5.13Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.7.15 to before 5.8 Fixed in 5.8 Patch available CNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.9 and later Fixed in 5.10.42, 5.12.9, 5.13 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 4

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*5.9 to before 5.10.42; 5.11 to before 5.12.9VulnerableLinux
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.9 to before 5.10.42; 5.11 to before 5.12.9 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

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.8
  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.42, 5.12.9, 5.13

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. 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
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47136
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-7cg4-mp48-cggr

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