NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2021-47631

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ARM: davinci: da850-evm: Avoid NULL pointer dereference With newer versions of GCC, there is a panic in da850_evm_config_emac() when booting multi_v5_defconfig in QEMU under the palmetto-bmc machine: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000020 pgd = (ptrval) [00000020] *pgd=00000000 Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] PREEMPT ARM Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper Not tainted 5.15.0 #1 Hardware name: Generic DT based system PC is at da850_evm_config_emac+0x1c/0x120 LR is at do_one_initcall+0x50/0x1e0 The emac_pdata pointer in soc_info is NULL because davinci_soc_info only gets populated on davinci machines but da850_evm_config_emac() is called on all machines via device_initcall(). Move the rmii_en assignment below the machine check so that it is only dereferenced when running on a supported SoC.

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 (14.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 14th percentile — 14.0% 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-2021-47631: 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 bae105879f2f2404155da6f50b3636193d228a62, 2.6.33, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 5.18

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-47631?
CVE-2021-47631 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-02-26.
How severe is CVE-2021-47631?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.