# CVE-2021-28039: Denial of service in n/a

> A local user in a Xen PV guest can crash the Dom0 or driver domain via excessive I/O activity in specific kernel configurations.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 5 Mar 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-28039, GHSA-54vm-9r8q-f6f9, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-28039

## What is CVE-2021-28039?

CVE-2021-28039 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel 5.9.x through 5.11.3, as used with Xen. In some less-common configurations, an x86 PV guest OS user can crash a Dom0 or driver domain via a large amount of I/O activity. The issue relates to misuse of guest physical addresses when a configuration has CONFIG_XEN_UNPOPULATED_ALLOC but not CONFIG_XEN_BALLOON_MEMORY_HOTPLUG.

Weakness: CWE-131 (Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-28039?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Linux kernel, Netapp Cloud Backup, Netapp Solidfire Baseboard Management Controller Firmware, Xen Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-28039?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-28039 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-28039 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-28039 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-28039 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-28039 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28039/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28039/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-28039
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-28039
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-28039

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28039/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.