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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

Moderate severity Unreviewed Published May 21, 2024 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Apr 29, 2025

Package

No package listed— Suggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/slub: actually fix freelist pointer vs redzoning

It turns out that SLUB redzoning ("slub_debug=Z") checks from
s->object_size rather than from s->inuse (which is normally bumped to
make room for the freelist pointer), so a cache created with an object
size less than 24 would have the freelist pointer written beyond
s->object_size, causing the redzone to be corrupted by the freelist
pointer. This was very visible with "slub_debug=ZF":

BUG test (Tainted: G B ): Right Redzone overwritten

INFO: 0xffff957ead1c05de-0xffff957ead1c05df @offset=1502. First byte 0x1a instead of 0xbb
INFO: Slab 0xffffef3950b47000 objects=170 used=170 fp=0x0000000000000000 flags=0x8000000000000200
INFO: Object 0xffff957ead1c05d8 @offset=1496 fp=0xffff957ead1c0620

Redzone (ptrval): bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb ........
Object (ptrval): 00 00 00 00 00 f6 f4 a5 ........
Redzone (ptrval): 40 1d e8 1a aa @....
Padding (ptrval): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

Adjust the offset to stay within s->object_size.

(Note that no caches of in this size range are known to exist in the
kernel currently.)

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database May 21, 2024
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 21, 2024
Last updated Apr 29, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(4th percentile)

Weaknesses

Release of Invalid Pointer or Reference

The product attempts to return a memory resource to the system, but it calls the wrong release function or calls the appropriate release function incorrectly. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2021-47221

GHSA ID

GHSA-3c4w-p6cr-wgq6

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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