# CVE-2021-46964: scsi: qla2xxx: Reserve extra IRQ vectors

> A null pointer dereference in the qla2xxx SCSI driver causes a kernel crash when queue pair maps are not allocated, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** GHSA-pvcm-vr92-9wx7, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46964

## What is CVE-2021-46964?

CVE-2021-46964 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:

scsi: qla2xxx: Reserve extra IRQ vectors

Commit a6dcfe08487e ("scsi: qla2xxx: Limit interrupt vectors to number of
CPUs") lowers the number of allocated MSI-X vectors to the number of CPUs.

That breaks vector allocation assumptions in qla83xx_iospace_config(),
qla24xx_enable_msix() and qla2x00_iospace_config(). Either of the functions
computes maximum number of qpairs as:

  ha->max_qpairs = ha->msix_count - 1 (MB interrupt) - 1 (default
                   response queue) - 1 (ATIO, in dual or pure target mode)

max_qpairs is set to zero in case of two CPUs and initiator mode. The
number is then used to allocate ha->queue_pair_map inside
qla2x00_alloc_queues(). No allocation happens and ha->queue_pair_map is
left NULL but the driver thinks there are queue pairs available.

qla2xxx_queuecommand() tries to find a qpair in the map and crashes:

  if (ha->mqenable) {
          uint32_t tag;
          uint16_t hwq;
          struct qla_qpair *qpair = NULL;

          tag = blk_mq_unique_tag(cmd->request);
          hwq = blk_mq_unique_tag_to_hwq(tag);
          qpair = ha->queue_pair_map[hwq]; # <- HERE

          if (qpair)
                  return qla2xxx_mqueuecommand(host, cmd, qpair);
  }

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
  #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
  #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
  PGD 0 P4D 0
  Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI
  CPU: 0 PID: 72 Comm: kworker/u4:3 Tainted: G        W         5.10.0-rc1+ #25
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.0.0-prebuilt.qemu-project.org 04/01/2014
  Workqueue: scsi_wq_7 fc_scsi_scan_rport [scsi_transport_fc]
  RIP: 0010:qla2xxx_queuecommand+0x16b/0x3f0 [qla2xxx]
  Call Trace:
   scsi_queue_rq+0x58c/0xa60
   blk_mq_dispatch_rq_list+0x2b7/0x6f0
   ? __sbitmap_get_word+0x2a/0x80
   __blk_mq_sched_dispatch_requests+0xb8/0x170
   blk_mq_sched_dispatch_requests+0x2b/0x50
   __blk_mq_run_hw_queue+0x49/0xb0
   __blk_mq_delay_run_hw_queue+0xfb/0x150
   blk_mq_sched_insert_request+0xbe/0x110
   blk_execute_rq+0x45/0x70
   __scsi_execute+0x10e/0x250
   scsi_probe_and_add_lun+0x228/0xda0
   __scsi_scan_target+0xf4/0x620
   ? __pm_runtime_resume+0x4f/0x70
   scsi_scan_target+0x100/0x110
   fc_scsi_scan_rport+0xa1/0xb0 [scsi_transport_fc]
   process_one_work+0x1ea/0x3b0
   worker_thread+0x28/0x3b0
   ? process_one_work+0x3b0/0x3b0
   kthread+0x112/0x130
   ? kthread_park+0x80/0x80
   ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30

The driver should allocate enough vectors to provide every CPU it's own HW
queue and still handle reserved (MB, RSP, ATIO) interrupts.

The change fixes the crash on dual core VM and prevents unbalanced QP
allocation where nr_hw_queues is two less than the number of CPUs.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-46964?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-46964?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-46964 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46964 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-2021-46964 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-46964 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46964 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-2021-46964/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46964/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-46964
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-46964
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-46964

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46964/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.