net: systemport: Add global locking for descriptor lifecycle
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-667 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: systemport: Add global locking for descriptor lifecycle The descriptor list is a shared resource across all of the transmit queues, and the locking mechanism used today only protects concurrency across a given transmit queue between the transmit and reclaiming. This creates an opportunity for the SYSTEMPORT hardware to work on corrupted descriptors if we have multiple producers at once which is the case when using multiple transmit queues. This was particularly noticeable when using multiple flows/transmit queues and it showed up in interesting ways in that UDP packets would get a correct UDP header checksum being calculated over an incorrect packet length. Similarly TCP packets would get an equally correct checksum computed by the hardware over an incorrect packet length. The SYSTEMPORT hardware maintains an internal descriptor list that it re-arranges when the driver produces a new descriptor anytime it writes to the WRITE_PORT_{HI,LO} registers, there is however some delay in the hardware to re-organize its descriptors and it is possible that concurrent TX queues eventually break this internal allocation scheme to the point where the length/status part of the descriptor gets used for an incorrect data buffer. The fix is to impose a global serialization for all TX queues in the short section where we are writing to the WRITE_PORT_{HI,LO} registers which solves the corruption even with multiple concurrent TX queues being used.
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 | 3.16 and later | 4.4.296, 4.9.294, 4.14.259, 4.19.222, 5.4.168, 5.10.88, 5.15.11, 5.16 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 3.16 and later Fixed in 4.4.296, 4.9.294, 4.14.259, 4.19.222, 5.4.168, 5.10.88, 5.15.11, 5.16 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 6
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 3.16 to before 4.4.296; 4.5 to before 4.9.294; 4.10 to before 4.14.259; 4.15 to before 4.19.222; 4.20 to before 5.4.168; 5.5 to before 5.10.88; 5.11 to before 5.15.11 | 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.16 to before 4.4.296; 4.5 to before 4.9.294; 4.10 to before 4.14.259; 4.15 to before 4.19.222; 4.20 to before 5.4.168; 5.5 to before 5.10.88; 5.11 to before 5.15.11 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
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.4.296, 4.9.294, 4.14.259, 4.19.222, 5.4.168, 5.10.88, 5.15.11, 5.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47587
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-gp83-h9gh-vrv6
References
Patch 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ed2f5d08d6e59f8c78b2869bfb95d0be32c094c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/de57f62f76450b934de8203711bdc4f7953c3421
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3fde37d3f0d429f0fcce214cb52588a9e21260e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/595a684fa6f23b21958379a18cfa83862c73c2e1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c675256a7f131f5ba3f331efb715e8f31ea0e392
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e1011cd183faae8daff275c72444edcdfe0d473
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eb4687c7442942e115420a30185f8d83faf37696
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b8e6e782456f1ce02a7ae914bbd5b1053f0b034
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-2021-47587 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-47587 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-gp83-h9gh-vrv6 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-47587 · 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