NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2021-4441

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: spi-zynq-qspi: Fix a NULL pointer dereference in zynq_qspi_exec_mem_op() In zynq_qspi_exec_mem_op(), kzalloc() is directly used in memset(), which could lead to a NULL pointer dereference on failure of kzalloc(). Fix this bug by adding a check of tmpbuf. This bug was found by a static analyzer. The analysis employs differential checking to identify inconsistent security operations (e.g., checks or kfrees) between two code paths and confirms that the inconsistent operations are not recovered in the current function or the callers, so they constitute bugs. Note that, as a bug found by static analysis, it can be a false positive or hard to trigger. Multiple researchers have cross-reviewed the bug. Builds with CONFIG_SPI_ZYNQ_QSPI=m show no new warnings, and our static analyzer no longer warns about this code.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (11.9th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 12th percentile — 11.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2021-4441: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 67dca5e580f1e93a66177389981541cac208c817, 5.2, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 5.17

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-4441?
CVE-2021-4441 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2024-08-22.
How severe is CVE-2021-4441?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.