CVE-2021-46970

bus: mhi: pci_generic: Remove WQ_MEM_RECLAIM flag from state workqueue

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: February 27, 2024 at 06:47 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:16 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bus: mhi: pci_generic: Remove WQ_MEM_RECLAIM flag from state workqueue A recent change created a dedicated workqueue for the state-change work with WQ_HIGHPRI (no strong reason for that) and WQ_MEM_RECLAIM flags, but the state-change work (mhi_pm_st_worker) does not guarantee forward progress under memory pressure, and will even wait on various memory allocations when e.g. creating devices, loading firmware, etc... The work is then not part of a memory reclaim path... Moreover, this causes a warning in check_flush_dependency() since we end up in code that flushes a non-reclaim workqueue: [ 40.969601] workqueue: WQ_MEM_RECLAIM mhi_hiprio_wq:mhi_pm_st_worker [mhi] is flushing !WQ_MEM_RECLAIM events_highpri:flush_backlog [ 40.969612] WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 158 at kernel/workqueue.c:2607 check_flush_dependency+0x11c/0x140 [ 40.969733] Call Trace: [ 40.969740] __flush_work+0x97/0x1d0 [ 40.969745] ? wake_up_process+0x15/0x20 [ 40.969749] ? insert_work+0x70/0x80 [ 40.969750] ? __queue_work+0x14a/0x3e0 [ 40.969753] flush_work+0x10/0x20 [ 40.969756] rollback_registered_many+0x1c9/0x510 [ 40.969759] unregister_netdevice_queue+0x94/0x120 [ 40.969761] unregister_netdev+0x1d/0x30 [ 40.969765] mhi_net_remove+0x1a/0x40 [mhi_net] [ 40.969770] mhi_driver_remove+0x124/0x250 [mhi] [ 40.969776] device_release_driver_internal+0xf0/0x1d0 [ 40.969778] device_release_driver+0x12/0x20 [ 40.969782] bus_remove_device+0xe1/0x150 [ 40.969786] device_del+0x17b/0x3e0 [ 40.969791] mhi_destroy_device+0x9a/0x100 [mhi] [ 40.969796] ? mhi_unmap_single_use_bb+0x50/0x50 [mhi] [ 40.969799] device_for_each_child+0x5e/0xa0 [ 40.969804] mhi_pm_st_worker+0x921/0xf50 [mhi]

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

5.11 ≤ v < 5.11.205.11 ≤ v < 5.12.35.11 ≤ v < 5.135.12 ≤ v < 5.12.35.118f70397876872789b2a5deba804eb6216fb5deb7
Vendor states this is fixed in 0fccbf0a3b690b162f53b13ed8bc442ea33437dc (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in abd1510c08a13c88d24b622a83c82e87ff1d3135 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in ed541cff35cbdb695f0c98ef506dd7218883fc07 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.11 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.11.20 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.12.3 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.13 (unaffected)

References (3)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fccbf0a3b690b162f53b13ed8bc442ea33437dc
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/abd1510c08a13c88d24b622a83c82e87ff1d3135
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ed541cff35cbdb695f0c98ef506dd7218883fc07

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfo

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