# CVE-2021-47099: veth: ensure skb entering GRO are not cloned.

> A kernel bug in the veth driver causes a crash when cloned skbs enter GRO, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 4 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47099, GHSA-7xc6-rqxq-w4qm, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47099

## What is CVE-2021-47099?

CVE-2021-47099 is a high-severity 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:

veth: ensure skb entering GRO are not cloned.

After commit d3256efd8e8b ("veth: allow enabling NAPI even without XDP"),
if GRO is enabled on a veth device and TSO is disabled on the peer
device, TCP skbs will go through the NAPI callback. If there is no XDP
program attached, the veth code does not perform any share check, and
shared/cloned skbs could enter the GRO engine.

Ignat reported a BUG triggered later-on due to the above condition:

[   53.970529][    C1] kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:3574!
[   53.981755][    C1] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI
[   53.982634][    C1] CPU: 1 PID: 19 Comm: ksoftirqd/1 Not tainted 5.16.0-rc5+ #25
[   53.982634][    C1] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
[   53.982634][    C1] RIP: 0010:skb_shift+0x13ef/0x23b0
[   53.982634][    C1] Code: ea 03 0f b6 04 02 48 89 fa 83 e2 07 38 d0
7f 08 84 c0 0f 85 41 0c 00 00 41 80 7f 02 00 4d 8d b5 d0 00 00 00 0f
85 74 f5 ff ff <0f> 0b 4d 8d 77 20 be 04 00 00 00 4c 89 44 24 78 4c 89
f7 4c 89 8c
[   53.982634][    C1] RSP: 0018:ffff8881008f7008 EFLAGS: 00010246
[   53.982634][    C1] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8881180b4c80 RCX: 0000000000000000
[   53.982634][    C1] RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: ffff8881180b4d3c RDI: ffff88810bc9cac2
[   53.982634][    C1] RBP: ffff8881008f70b8 R08: ffff8881180b4cf4 R09: ffff8881180b4cf0
[   53.982634][    C1] R10: ffffed1022999e5c R11: 0000000000000002 R12: 0000000000000590
[   53.982634][    C1] R13: ffff88810f940c80 R14: ffff88810f940d50 R15: ffff88810bc9cac0
[   53.982634][    C1] FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888235880000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[   53.982634][    C1] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[   53.982634][    C1] CR2: 00007ff5f9b86680 CR3: 0000000108ce8004 CR4: 0000000000170ee0
[   53.982634][    C1] Call Trace:
[   53.982634][    C1]  <TASK>
[   53.982634][    C1]  tcp_sacktag_walk+0xaba/0x18e0
[   53.982634][    C1]  tcp_sacktag_write_queue+0xe7b/0x3460
[   53.982634][    C1]  tcp_ack+0x2666/0x54b0
[   53.982634][    C1]  tcp_rcv_established+0x4d9/0x20f0
[   53.982634][    C1]  tcp_v4_do_rcv+0x551/0x810
[   53.982634][    C1]  tcp_v4_rcv+0x22ed/0x2ed0
[   53.982634][    C1]  ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x96/0xaf0
[   53.982634][    C1]  ip_local_deliver_finish+0x1e0/0x2f0
[   53.982634][    C1]  ip_sublist_rcv_finish+0x211/0x440
[   53.982634][    C1]  ip_list_rcv_finish.constprop.0+0x424/0x660
[   53.982634][    C1]  ip_list_rcv+0x2c8/0x410
[   53.982634][    C1]  __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x65c/0x910
[   53.982634][    C1]  netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x5f9/0xcb0
[   53.982634][    C1]  napi_complete_done+0x188/0x6e0
[   53.982634][    C1]  gro_cell_poll+0x10c/0x1d0
[   53.982634][    C1]  __napi_poll+0xa1/0x530
[   53.982634][    C1]  net_rx_action+0x567/0x1270
[   53.982634][    C1]  __do_softirq+0x28a/0x9ba
[   53.982634][    C1]  run_ksoftirqd+0x32/0x60
[   53.982634][    C1]  smpboot_thread_fn+0x559/0x8c0
[   53.982634][    C1]  kthread+0x3b9/0x490
[   53.982634][    C1]  ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30
[   53.982634][    C1]  </TASK>

Address the issue by skipping the GRO stage for shared or cloned skbs.
To reduce the chance of OoO, try to unclone the skbs before giving up.

v1 -> v2:
 - use avoid skb_copy and fallback to netif_receive_skb  - Eric

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47099?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47099?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47099 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47099 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-2021-47099 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47099 is a high-severity 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-2021-47099 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-2021-47099/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47099/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47099
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47099
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47099

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47099/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.