Buffer overflow in Linux

CVE-2021-47107

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFSD: Fix READDIR buffer overflow If a client sends a READDIR count argument that is too small (say, zero), then the buffer size calculation in the new init_dirlist helper functions results in an underflow, allowing the XDR stream functions to write beyond the actual buffer. This calculation has always been suspect. NFSD has never sanity- checked the READDIR count argument, but the old entry encoders managed the problem correctly. With the commits below, entry encoding changed, exposing the underflow to the pointer arithmetic in xdr_reserve_space(). Modern NFS clients attempt to retrieve as much data as possible for each READDIR request. Also, we have no unit tests that exercise the behavior of READDIR at the lower bound of @count values. Thus this case was missed during testing.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

EPSS: 0.004 (30.5th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 37aa5e64022243e721b8334122997881177a4cfc, 7f87fc2d34d475225e78b7f5c4eabb121f4282b2, 5.13
  • Linux Linux_kernel — versions 5.16

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-47107?
CVE-2021-47107 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input (Classic Buffer Overflow). CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2024-03-04.
How severe is CVE-2021-47107?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.