# CVE-2021-46956: virtiofs: fix memory leak in virtio_fs_probe()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel virtiofs driver can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service when duplicate tags are passed.

- **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:** 27 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46956, GHSA-7r25-m49h-vw58, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46956

## What is CVE-2021-46956?

CVE-2021-46956 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

virtiofs: fix memory leak in virtio_fs_probe()

When accidentally passing twice the same tag to qemu, kmemleak ended up
reporting a memory leak in virtiofs.  Also, looking at the log I saw the
following error (that's when I realised the duplicated tag):

  virtiofs: probe of virtio5 failed with error -17

Here's the kmemleak log for reference:

unreferenced object 0xffff888103d47800 (size 1024):
  comm "systemd-udevd", pid 118, jiffies 4294893780 (age 18.340s)
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 ad 4e ad de ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00  .....N..........
    ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 80 90 02 a0 ff ff ff ff  ................
  backtrace:
    [<000000000ebb87c1>] virtio_fs_probe+0x171/0x7ae [virtiofs]
    [<00000000f8aca419>] virtio_dev_probe+0x15f/0x210
    [<000000004d6baf3c>] really_probe+0xea/0x430
    [<00000000a6ceeac8>] device_driver_attach+0xa8/0xb0
    [<00000000196f47a7>] __driver_attach+0x98/0x140
    [<000000000b20601d>] bus_for_each_dev+0x7b/0xc0
    [<00000000399c7b7f>] bus_add_driver+0x11b/0x1f0
    [<0000000032b09ba7>] driver_register+0x8f/0xe0
    [<00000000cdd55998>] 0xffffffffa002c013
    [<000000000ea196a2>] do_one_initcall+0x64/0x2e0
    [<0000000008f727ce>] do_init_module+0x5c/0x260
    [<000000003cdedab6>] __do_sys_finit_module+0xb5/0x120
    [<00000000ad2f48c6>] do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40
    [<00000000809526b5>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-46956?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-46956?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-46956 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46956 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-2021-46956 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-46956 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46956 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-2021-46956/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46956/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-46956
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-46956
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-46956

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46956/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.