# CVE-2021-4442: tcp: add sanity tests to TCP_QUEUE_SEQ

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel warning and potential crash by manipulating TCP sequence numbers via TCP_QUEUE_SEQ when the receive queue is not empty.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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:** 29 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-4442, GHSA-f9pf-68jx-89j3, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-4442

## What is CVE-2021-4442?

CVE-2021-4442 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 29 Aug 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tcp: add sanity tests to TCP_QUEUE_SEQ

Qingyu Li reported a syzkaller bug where the repro
changes RCV SEQ _after_ restoring data in the receive queue.

mprotect(0x4aa000, 12288, PROT_READ)    = 0
mmap(0x1ffff000, 4096, PROT_NONE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x1ffff000
mmap(0x20000000, 16777216, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x20000000
mmap(0x21000000, 4096, PROT_NONE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x21000000
socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
setsockopt(3, SOL_TCP, TCP_REPAIR, [1], 4) = 0
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET6, sin6_port=htons(0), sin6_flowinfo=htonl(0), inet_pton(AF_INET6, "::1", &sin6_addr), sin6_scope_id=0}, 28) = 0
setsockopt(3, SOL_TCP, TCP_REPAIR_QUEUE, [1], 4) = 0
sendmsg(3, {msg_name=NULL, msg_namelen=0, msg_iov=[{iov_base="0x0000000000000003\0\0", iov_len=20}], msg_iovlen=1, msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 20
setsockopt(3, SOL_TCP, TCP_REPAIR, [0], 4) = 0
setsockopt(3, SOL_TCP, TCP_QUEUE_SEQ, [128], 4) = 0
recvfrom(3, NULL, 20, 0, NULL, NULL)    = -1 ECONNRESET (Connection reset by peer)

syslog shows:
[  111.205099] TCP recvmsg seq # bug 2: copied 80, seq 0, rcvnxt 80, fl 0
[  111.207894] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 356 at net/ipv4/tcp.c:2343 tcp_recvmsg_locked+0x90e/0x29a0

This should not be allowed. TCP_QUEUE_SEQ should only be used
when queues are empty.

This patch fixes this case, and the tx path as well.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-4442?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-4442?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-4442 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-4442 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-2021-4442 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-4442 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 29 Aug 2024. 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-2021-4442 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-2021-4442/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-4442/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-4442
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-4442
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-4442

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-4442/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.