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TI-2021-22231 Aliases CVE-2021-47587GHSA-gp83-h9gh-vrv6

net: systemport: Add global locking for descriptor lifecycle

Priority MEDIUM 43CWE-667Published · Updated

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

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00547 46th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Linux (Linux): 4.4.296, 4.9.294, 4.14.259 +5

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
LinuxLinux3.16 and later4.4.296, 4.9.294, 4.14.259, 4.19.222, 5.4.168, 5.10.88, 5.15.11, 5.16Patch availableCNA
  • 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

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
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 5.15.11VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc5VulnerableLinux
  • 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

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47587
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-gp83-h9gh-vrv6

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