Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2021-47119

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix memory leak in ext4_fill_super Buffer head references must be released before calling kill_bdev(); otherwise the buffer head (and its page referenced by b_data) will not be freed by kill_bdev, and subsequently that bh will be leaked. If blocksizes differ, sb_set_blocksize() will kill current buffers and page cache by using kill_bdev(). And then super block will be reread again but using correct blocksize this time. sb_set_blocksize() didn't fully free superblock page and buffer head, and being busy, they were not freed and instead leaked. This can easily be reproduced by calling an infinite loop of: systemctl start <ext4_on_lvm>.mount, and systemctl stop <ext4_on_lvm>.mount ... since systemd creates a cgroup for each slice which it mounts, and the bh leak get amplified by a dying memory cgroup that also never gets freed, and memory consumption is much more easily noticed.

EPSS: 0.003 (16.7th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

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.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-47119?
CVE-2021-47119 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2024-03-15.
How severe is CVE-2021-47119?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-47119 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.