scsi: core: Fix bad pointer dereference when ehandler kthread is invalid
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: core: Fix bad pointer dereference when ehandler kthread is invalid Commit 66a834d09293 ("scsi: core: Fix error handling of scsi_host_alloc()") changed the allocation logic to call put_device() to perform host cleanup with the assumption that IDA removal and stopping the kthread would properly be performed in scsi_host_dev_release(). However, in the unlikely case that the error handler thread fails to spawn, shost->ehandler is set to ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM). The error handler cleanup code in scsi_host_dev_release() will call kthread_stop() if shost->ehandler != NULL which will always be the case whether the kthread was successfully spawned or not. In the case that it failed to spawn this has the nasty side effect of trying to dereference an invalid pointer when kthread_stop() is called. The following splat provides an example of this behavior in the wild: scsi host11: error handler thread failed to spawn, error = -4 Kernel attempted to read user page (10c) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0) BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x0000010c Faulting instruction address: 0xc00000000818e9a8 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries Modules linked in: ibmvscsi(+) scsi_transport_srp dm_multipath dm_mirror dm_region hash dm_log dm_mod fuse overlay squashfs loop CPU: 12 PID: 274 Comm: systemd-udevd Not tainted 5.13.0-rc7 #1 NIP: c00000000818e9a8 LR: c0000000089846e8 CTR: 0000000000007ee8 REGS: c000000037d12ea0 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (5.13.0-rc7) MSR: 800000000280b033 <SF,VEC,VSX,EE,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 28228228 XER: 20040001 CFAR: c0000000089846e4 DAR: 000000000000010c DSISR: 40000000 IRQMASK: 0 GPR00: c0000000089846e8 c000000037d13140 c000000009cc1100 fffffffffffffffc GPR04: 0000000000000001 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 c000000037dc0000 GPR08: 0000000000000000 c000000037dc0000 0000000000000001 00000000fffff7ff GPR12: 0000000000008000 c00000000a049000 c000000037d13d00 000000011134d5a0 GPR16: 0000000000001740 c0080000190d0000 c0080000190d1740 c000000009129288 GPR20: c000000037d13bc0 0000000000000001 c000000037d13bc0 c0080000190b7898 GPR24: c0080000190b7708 0000000000000000 c000000033bb2c48 0000000000000000 GPR28: c000000046b28280 0000000000000000 000000000000010c fffffffffffffffc NIP [c00000000818e9a8] kthread_stop+0x38/0x230 LR [c0000000089846e8] scsi_host_dev_release+0x98/0x160 Call Trace: [c000000033bb2c48] 0xc000000033bb2c48 (unreliable) [c0000000089846e8] scsi_host_dev_release+0x98/0x160 [c00000000891e960] device_release+0x60/0x100 [c0000000087e55c4] kobject_release+0x84/0x210 [c00000000891ec78] put_device+0x28/0x40 [c000000008984ea4] scsi_host_alloc+0x314/0x430 [c0080000190b38bc] ibmvscsi_probe+0x54/0xad0 [ibmvscsi] [c000000008110104] vio_bus_probe+0xa4/0x4b0 [c00000000892a860] really_probe+0x140/0x680 [c00000000892aefc] driver_probe_device+0x15c/0x200 [c00000000892b63c] device_driver_attach+0xcc/0xe0 [c00000000892b740] __driver_attach+0xf0/0x200 [c000000008926f28] bus_for_each_dev+0xa8/0x130 [c000000008929ce4] driver_attach+0x34/0x50 [c000000008928fc0] bus_add_driver+0x1b0/0x300 [c00000000892c798] driver_register+0x98/0x1a0 [c00000000810eb60] __vio_register_driver+0x80/0xe0 [c0080000190b4a30] ibmvscsi_module_init+0x9c/0xdc [ibmvscsi] [c0000000080121d0] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x2d0 [c000000008261abc] do_init_module+0x7c/0x320 [c000000008265700] load_module+0x2350/0x25b0 [c000000008265cb4] __do_sys_finit_module+0xd4/0x160 [c000000008031110] system_call_exception+0x150/0x2d0 [c00000000800d35c] system_call_common+0xec/0x278 Fix this be nulling shost->ehandler when the kthread fails to spawn.
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 | 4.9.273 to before 4.9.276; 4.14.237 to before 4.14.240; 4.19.195 to before 4.19.198; 5.4.126 to before 5.4.134; 5.10.44 to before 5.10.52; 5.12.11 to before 5.12.19 | 4.9.276, 4.14.240, 4.19.198, 5.4.134, 5.10.52, 5.12.19 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 5.13 and later | 4.9.276, 4.14.240, 4.19.198, 5.4.134, 5.10.52, 5.12.19, 5.13.4, 5.14 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.9.273 to before 4.9.276; 4.14.237 to before 4.14.240; 4.19.195 to before 4.19.198; 5.4.126 to before 5.4.134; 5.10.44 to before 5.10.52; 5.12.11 to before 5.12.19 Fixed in 4.9.276, 4.14.240, 4.19.198, 5.4.134, 5.10.52, 5.12.19 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.13 and later Fixed in 4.9.276, 4.14.240, 4.19.198, 5.4.134, 5.10.52, 5.12.19, 5.13.4, 5.14 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 2
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 4.9.273 to before 4.9.276; 4.14.237 to before 4.14.240; 4.19.195 to before 4.19.198; 5.4.126 to before 5.4.134; 5.10.44 to before 5.10.52; 5.12.11 to before 5.12.19; 5.13 to before 5.13.4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.14 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 4.9.273 to before 4.9.276; 4.14.237 to before 4.14.240; 4.19.195 to before 4.19.198; 5.4.126 to before 5.4.134; 5.10.44 to before 5.10.52; 5.12.11 to before 5.12.19; 5.13 to before 5.13.4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.14 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.9.276, 4.14.240, 4.19.198, 5.4.134, 5.10.52, 5.12.19
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.9.276, 4.14.240, 4.19.198, 5.4.134, 5.10.52, 5.12.19, 5.13.4, 5.14
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 |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47337
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-5vvx-6299-h82w
References
Patch 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d2f0b960d07e52bb664471b4de0ed8b08c636b3a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3d0a109240c9bed5c60d819014786be3a2fe515
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e1bd3fac2baa3d5c04375980c1d5263a3335af92
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/887bfae2732b5b02a86a859fd239d34f7ff93c05
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea518b70ed5e4598c8d706f37fc16f7b06e440bd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e4212ecf0713dd57d0e3209a66201da582149b1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1671d2d2ef8a84837eea1b4d99ca0c6a66fb691
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/93aa71ad7379900e61c8adff6a710a4c18c7c99b
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- 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-2021-47337 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-47337 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-5vvx-6299-h82w · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-47337 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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