CVE-2021-47517

ethtool: do not perform operations on net devices being unregistered

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: May 24, 2024 at 03:09 PM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 09:24 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethtool: do not perform operations on net devices being unregistered There is a short period between a net device starts to be unregistered and when it is actually gone. In that time frame ethtool operations could still be performed, which might end up in unwanted or undefined behaviours[1]. Do not allow ethtool operations after a net device starts its unregistration. This patch targets the netlink part as the ioctl one isn't affected: the reference to the net device is taken and the operation is executed within an rtnl lock section and the net device won't be found after unregister. [1] For example adding Tx queues after unregister ends up in NULL pointer exceptions and UaFs, such as: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in kobject_get+0x14/0x90 Read of size 1 at addr ffff88801961248c by task ethtool/755 CPU: 0 PID: 755 Comm: ethtool Not tainted 5.15.0-rc6+ #778 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.14.0-4.fc34 04/014 Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x57/0x72 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x1f/0x140 kasan_report.cold+0x7f/0x11b kobject_get+0x14/0x90 kobject_add_internal+0x3d1/0x450 kobject_init_and_add+0xba/0xf0 netdev_queue_update_kobjects+0xcf/0x200 netif_set_real_num_tx_queues+0xb4/0x310 veth_set_channels+0x1c3/0x550 ethnl_set_channels+0x524/0x610

Affected

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

5.11 ≤ v < 5.15.85.6 ≤ v < 5.10.875.6 ≤ v < 5.15.85.6 ≤ v < 5.1641b1c5d4a53e97fc9e29ae32469552ca12cb9b5.16 rc15.16 rc25.16 rc35.16 rc4
Vendor states this is fixed in 7c26da3be1e9843a15b5318f90db8a564479d2ac (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in cfd719f04267108f5f5bf802b9d7de69e99a99f9 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in dde91ccfa25fd58f64c397d91b81a4b393100ffa (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.87 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.8 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.16 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.6 (unaffected)

References (3)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7c26da3be1e9843a15b5318f90db8a564479d2ac
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cfd719f04267108f5f5bf802b9d7de69e99a99f9
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dde91ccfa25fd58f64c397d91b81a4b393100ffa

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

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

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-416

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