CVE-2021-47162
CriticalCVSS 9.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Elevated risk51th percentile - higher than 51% of all known CVEs
Summary
In the Linux kernel TIPC module, a vulnerability was found where improperly appending fragments to a skb's frag_list can lead to use-after-free. The issue occurs when the skb was cloned or modified by pskb_copy() or pskb_may_pull(), and the new fragment is shared by multiple skbs despite only one skb_get() call.
Risk Assessment
An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a kernel panic or potentially escalate privileges, threatening system integrity and availability.
Recommendation
Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix (linearizing the skb in tipc_buf_append()). Monitor vendor security advisories and apply patches urgently.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tipc: skb_linearize the head skb when reassembling msgs It's not a good idea to append the frag skb to a skb's frag_list if the frag_list already has skbs from elsewhere, such as this skb was created by pskb_copy() where the frag_list was cloned (all the skbs in it were skb_get'ed) and shared by multiple skbs. However, the new appended frag skb should have been only seen by the current skb. Otherwise, it will cause use after free crashes as this appended frag skb are seen by multiple skbs but it only got skb_get called once. The same thing happens with a skb updated by pskb_may_pull() with a skb_cloned skb. Li Shuang has reported quite a few crashes caused by this when doing testing over macvlan devices: [] kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:1970! [] Call Trace: [] skb_clone+0x4d/0xb0 [] macvlan_broadcast+0xd8/0x160 [macvlan] [] macvlan_process_broadcast+0x148/0x150 [macvlan] [] process_one_work+0x1a7/0x360 [] worker_thread+0x30/0x390 [] kernel BUG at mm/usercopy.c:102! [] Call Trace: [] __check_heap_object+0xd3/0x100 [] __check_object_size+0xff/0x16b [] simple_copy_to_iter+0x1c/0x30 [] __skb_datagram_iter+0x7d/0x310 [] __skb_datagram_iter+0x2a5/0x310 [] skb_copy_datagram_iter+0x3b/0x90 [] tipc_recvmsg+0x14a/0x3a0 [tipc] [] ____sys_recvmsg+0x91/0x150 [] ___sys_recvmsg+0x7b/0xc0 [] kernel BUG at mm/slub.c:305! [] Call Trace: [] <IRQ> [] kmem_cache_free+0x3ff/0x400 [] __netif_receive_skb_core+0x12c/0xc40 [] ? kmem_cache_alloc+0x12e/0x270 [] netif_receive_skb_internal+0x3d/0xb0 [] ? get_rx_page_info+0x8e/0xa0 [be2net] [] be_poll+0x6ef/0xd00 [be2net] [] ? irq_exit+0x4f/0x100 [] net_rx_action+0x149/0x3b0 ... This patch is to fix it by linearizing the head skb if it has frag_list set in tipc_buf_append(). Note that we choose to do this before calling skb_unshare(), as __skb_linearize() will avoid skb_copy(). Also, we can not just drop the frag_list either as the early time.