# CVE-2021-47089: kfence: fix memory leak when cat kfence objects

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's kfence debug interface allows local attackers to exhaust system memory by repeatedly reading object data, potentially causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** Low 3.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **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:** 4 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47089, GHSA-97gj-q9fx-vc88, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47089

## What is CVE-2021-47089?

CVE-2021-47089 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Mar 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:

kfence: fix memory leak when cat kfence objects

Hulk robot reported a kmemleak problem:

    unreferenced object 0xffff93d1d8cc02e8 (size 248):
      comm "cat", pid 23327, jiffies 4624670141 (age 495992.217s)
      hex dump (first 32 bytes):
        00 40 85 19 d4 93 ff ff 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00  .@..............
        00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
      backtrace:
         seq_open+0x2a/0x80
         full_proxy_open+0x167/0x1e0
         do_dentry_open+0x1e1/0x3a0
         path_openat+0x961/0xa20
         do_filp_open+0xae/0x120
         do_sys_openat2+0x216/0x2f0
         do_sys_open+0x57/0x80
         do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40
         entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9
    unreferenced object 0xffff93d419854000 (size 4096):
      comm "cat", pid 23327, jiffies 4624670141 (age 495992.217s)
      hex dump (first 32 bytes):
        6b 66 65 6e 63 65 2d 23 32 35 30 3a 20 30 78 30  kfence-#250: 0x0
        30 30 30 30 30 30 30 37 35 34 62 64 61 31 32 2d  0000000754bda12-
      backtrace:
         seq_read_iter+0x313/0x440
         seq_read+0x14b/0x1a0
         full_proxy_read+0x56/0x80
         vfs_read+0xa5/0x1b0
         ksys_read+0xa0/0xf0
         do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40
         entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9

I find that we can easily reproduce this problem with the following
commands:

	cat /sys/kernel/debug/kfence/objects
	echo scan > /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak
	cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak

The leaked memory is allocated in the stack below:

    do_syscall_64
      do_sys_open
        do_dentry_open
          full_proxy_open
            seq_open            ---> alloc seq_file
      vfs_read
        full_proxy_read
          seq_read
            seq_read_iter
              traverse          ---> alloc seq_buf

And it should have been released in the following process:

    do_syscall_64
      syscall_exit_to_user_mode
        exit_to_user_mode_prepare
          task_work_run
            ____fput
              __fput
                full_proxy_release  ---> free here

However, the release function corresponding to file_operations is not
implemented in kfence.  As a result, a memory leak occurs.  Therefore,
the solution to this problem is to implement the corresponding release
function.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47089?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47089?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47089 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47089 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-2021-47089 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47089 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Mar 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-2021-47089 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-2021-47089/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47089/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47089
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47089
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47089

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47089/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.