high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2021-47565·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: mpt3sas: Fix kernel panic during drive powercycle test While looping over shost's sdev list it is possible that one of the drives is getting removed and its sas_target object is freed but its sdev object remains intact. Consequently, a kernel panic can occur while the driver is trying to access the sas_address field of sas_target object without also checking the sas_target object for NULL.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
5.15.6
Published
2024-05-24

Affected versions

From: 5.11

Until: 5.15.6

Fixed in: 5.15.6

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 5.15.6 or later to resolve a critical null pointer dereference in the mpt3sas SCSI driver. This vulnerability can trigger a kernel panic when storage devices are removed during I/O operations because the driver fails to validate that a device's parent object still exists before accessing its memory. Apply the patch immediately on systems using affected kernel versions 5.11 through 5.15.5.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel && sudo reboot

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check your kernel version: uname -r — verify if it falls within 5.11.x to 5.15.5
  2. Confirm mpt3sas driver is loaded: lsmod | grep mpt3sas — this vulnerability only affects systems with MPT3 SAS controllers
  3. Search kernel logs for panic signatures: grep -i 'kernel panic\|null pointer dereference\|mpt3sas' /var/log/kern.log* — look for crashes involving sas_target or sas_address access
  4. Validate the patch: cat /proc/version — confirm kernel version is 5.15.6 or later after update and reboot

FAQ

What is CVE-2021-47565?

This vulnerability is a null pointer dereference in the mpt3sas SCSI controller driver that occurs when a storage device is removed while the kernel is iterating through connected devices. The driver attempts to read device properties without first verifying that the device object has not been freed, leading to a kernel panic.

Is CVE-2021-47565 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are available. However, it can be triggered inadvertently during storage maintenance operations like drive hot-swaps or power cycling.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2021-47565?

Linux kernel versions 5.11.0 through 5.15.5 are vulnerable. Version 5.15.6 and all subsequent releases contain the necessary null pointer checks.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2021-47565?

Run 'uname -r' to check your kernel version — if it shows 5.11.x through 5.15.5 and 'lsmod | grep mpt3sas' returns results, your system is vulnerable.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2021-47565?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If Kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2021-47565 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2024-42256CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix server re-repick on subrequest retry When a subrequest is marked for needing retry, netfs will call cifs_prepare_write() which will make cifs repick the server for the op before renegotiating credits; it then calls cifs_issue_write() which invokes smb2_async_writev() - which re-repicks the server. If a different server is then selected, this causes the increment of server->in_flight to happen against one record and the decrement to happen against another, leading to misaccounting. Fix this by just removing the repick code in smb2_async_writev(). As this is only called from netfslib-driven code, cifs_prepare_write() should always have been called first, and so server should never be NULL and the preparatory step is repeated in the event that we do a retry. The problem manifests as a warning looking something like: WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 72896 at fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c:97 smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... RIP: 0010:smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... smb2_writev_callback+0x334/0x560 [cifs] cifs_demultiplex_thread+0x77a/0x11b0 [cifs] kthread+0x187/0x1d0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Which may be triggered by a number of different xfstests running against an Azure server in multichannel mode. generic/249 seems the most repeatable, but generic/215, generic/249 and generic/308 may also show it.
CVE-2024-36031CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Fix overwrite of key expiration on instantiation The expiry time of a key is unconditionally overwritten during instantiation, defaulting to turn it permanent. This causes a problem for DNS resolution as the expiration set by user-space is overwritten to TIME64_MAX, disabling further DNS updates. Fix this by restoring the condition that key_set_expiry is only called when the pre-parser sets a specific expiry.
CVE-2024-38612CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: fix invalid unregister error path The error path of seg6_init() is wrong in case CONFIG_IPV6_SEG6_LWTUNNEL is not defined. In that case if seg6_hmac_init() fails, the genl_unregister_family() isn't called. This issue exist since commit 46738b1317e1 ("ipv6: sr: add option to control lwtunnel support"), and commit 5559cea2d5aa ("ipv6: sr: fix possible use-after-free and null-ptr-deref") replaced unregister_pernet_subsys() with genl_unregister_family() in this error path.
CVE-2024-38623CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Use variable length array instead of fixed size Should fix smatch warning: ntfs_set_label() error: __builtin_memcpy() 'uni->name' too small (20 vs 256)
CVE-2021-47548CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethernet: hisilicon: hns: hns_dsaf_misc: fix a possible array overflow in hns_dsaf_ge_srst_by_port() The if statement: if (port >= DSAF_GE_NUM) return; limits the value of port less than DSAF_GE_NUM (i.e., 8). However, if the value of port is 6 or 7, an array overflow could occur: port_rst_off = dsaf_dev->mac_cb[port]->port_rst_off; because the length of dsaf_dev->mac_cb is DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM (i.e., 6). To fix this possible array overflow, we first check port and if it is greater than or equal to DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM, the function returns.

References

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