CVE-2021-46947 sfc: adjust efx->xdp_tx_queue_count with the real number of initialized queues

Medium 5.5 Published 27 Feb 2024 Updated 11 May 2026

A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel sfc driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash via ethtool commands.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2021-46947?

CVE-2021-46947 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 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:

sfc: adjust efx->xdp_tx_queue_count with the real number of initialized queues

efx->xdp_tx_queue_count is initially initialized to num_possible_cpus() and is later used to allocate and traverse efx->xdp_tx_queues lookup array. However, we may end up not initializing all the array slots with real queues during probing. This results, for example, in a NULL pointer dereference, when running "# ethtool -S <iface>", similar to below

[2570283.664955][T4126959] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000f8 [2570283.681283][T4126959] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [2570283.695678][T4126959] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [2570283.710013][T4126959] PGD 0 P4D 0 [2570283.721649][T4126959] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI [2570283.734108][T4126959] CPU: 23 PID: 4126959 Comm: ethtool Tainted: G O 5.10.20-cloudflare-2021.3.1 #1 [2570283.752641][T4126959] Hardware name: <redacted> [2570283.781408][T4126959] RIP: 0010:efx_ethtool_get_stats+0x2ca/0x330 [sfc] [2570283.796073][T4126959] Code: 00 85 c0 74 39 48 8b 95 a8 0f 00 00 48 85 d2 74 2d 31 c0 eb 07 48 8b 95 a8 0f 00 00 48 63 c8 49 83 c4 08 83 c0 01 48 8b 14 ca <48> 8b 92 f8 00 00 00 49 89 54 24 f8 39 85 a0 0f 00 00 77 d7 48 8b [2570283.831259][T4126959] RSP: 0018:ffffb79a77657ce8 EFLAGS: 00010202 [2570283.845121][T4126959] RAX: 0000000000000019 RBX: ffffb799cd0c9280 RCX: 0000000000000018 [2570283.860872][T4126959] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff96dd970ce000 RDI: 0000000000000005 [2570283.876525][T4126959] RBP: ffff96dd86f0a000 R08: ffff96dd970ce480 R09: 000000000000005f [2570283.892014][T4126959] R10: ffffb799cd0c9fff R11: ffffb799cd0c9000 R12: ffffb799cd0c94f8 [2570283.907406][T4126959] R13: ffffffffc11b1090 R14: ffff96dd970ce000 R15: ffffffffc11cd66c [2570283.922705][T4126959] FS: 00007fa7723f8740(0000) GS:ffff96f51fac0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [2570283.938848][T4126959] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [2570283.952524][T4126959] CR2: 00000000000000f8 CR3: 0000001a73e6e006 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [2570283.967529][T4126959] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [2570283.982400][T4126959] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [2570283.997308][T4126959] PKRU: 55555554 [2570284.007649][T4126959] Call Trace: [2570284.017598][T4126959] dev_ethtool+0x1832/0x2830

Fix this by adjusting efx->xdp_tx_queue_count after probing to reflect the true value of initialized slots in efx->xdp_tx_queues.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-46947?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2021-46947?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-46947 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2021-46947 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46947 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-7jpg-53q7-h4w6, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46947.