CVE-2021-47462

mm/mempolicy: do not allow illegal MPOL_F_NUMA_BALANCING | MPOL_LOCAL in mbind()

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: May 22, 2024 at 06:23 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:17 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: mm/mempolicy: do not allow illegal MPOL_F_NUMA_BALANCING | MPOL_LOCAL in mbind() syzbot reported access to unitialized memory in mbind() [1] Issue came with commit bda420b98505 ("numa balancing: migrate on fault among multiple bound nodes") This commit added a new bit in MPOL_MODE_FLAGS, but only checked valid combination (MPOL_F_NUMA_BALANCING can only be used with MPOL_BIND) in do_set_mempolicy() This patch moves the check in sanitize_mpol_flags() so that it is also used by mbind() [1] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in __mpol_equal+0x567/0x590 mm/mempolicy.c:2260 __mpol_equal+0x567/0x590 mm/mempolicy.c:2260 mpol_equal include/linux/mempolicy.h:105 [inline] vma_merge+0x4a1/0x1e60 mm/mmap.c:1190 mbind_range+0xcc8/0x1e80 mm/mempolicy.c:811 do_mbind+0xf42/0x15f0 mm/mempolicy.c:1333 kernel_mbind mm/mempolicy.c:1483 [inline] __do_sys_mbind mm/mempolicy.c:1490 [inline] __se_sys_mbind+0x437/0xb80 mm/mempolicy.c:1486 __x64_sys_mbind+0x19d/0x200 mm/mempolicy.c:1486 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x54/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:82 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae Uninit was created at: slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3221 [inline] slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3230 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc+0x751/0xff0 mm/slub.c:3235 mpol_new mm/mempolicy.c:293 [inline] do_mbind+0x912/0x15f0 mm/mempolicy.c:1289 kernel_mbind mm/mempolicy.c:1483 [inline] __do_sys_mbind mm/mempolicy.c:1490 [inline] __se_sys_mbind+0x437/0xb80 mm/mempolicy.c:1486 __x64_sys_mbind+0x19d/0x200 mm/mempolicy.c:1486 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x54/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:82 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae ===================================================== Kernel panic - not syncing: panic_on_kmsan set ... CPU: 0 PID: 15049 Comm: syz-executor.0 Tainted: G B 5.15.0-rc2-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x1ff/0x28e lib/dump_stack.c:106 dump_stack+0x25/0x28 lib/dump_stack.c:113 panic+0x44f/0xdeb kernel/panic.c:232 kmsan_report+0x2ee/0x300 mm/kmsan/report.c:186 __msan_warning+0xd7/0x150 mm/kmsan/instrumentation.c:208 __mpol_equal+0x567/0x590 mm/mempolicy.c:2260 mpol_equal include/linux/mempolicy.h:105 [inline] vma_merge+0x4a1/0x1e60 mm/mmap.c:1190 mbind_range+0xcc8/0x1e80 mm/mempolicy.c:811 do_mbind+0xf42/0x15f0 mm/mempolicy.c:1333 kernel_mbind mm/mempolicy.c:1483 [inline] __do_sys_mbind mm/mempolicy.c:1490 [inline] __se_sys_mbind+0x437/0xb80 mm/mempolicy.c:1486 __x64_sys_mbind+0x19d/0x200 mm/mempolicy.c:1486 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x54/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:82 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Affected

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

5.12 ≤ v < 5.14.155.12 ≤ v < 5.155.15 rc15.15 rc25.15 rc35.15 rc45.15 rc55.15 rc6bda420b985054a3badafef23807c4b4fa38a3dff
Vendor states this is fixed in 6d2aec9e123bb9c49cb5c7fc654f25f81e688e8c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 9ee4e9ae98f1f262d6fae0d266cfdf3ba2c321d9 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.12 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.14.15 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (2)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d2aec9e123bb9c49cb5c7fc654f25f81e688e8c
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ee4e9ae98f1f262d6fae0d266cfdf3ba2c321d9

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
CWE-908

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