CVE-2021-47106 netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nft_set_catchall_destroy()

What is CVE-2021-47106?

CVE-2021-47106 is a high-severity use after free 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:

netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nft_set_catchall_destroy()

We need to use list_for_each_entry_safe() iterator because we can not access @catchall after kfree_rcu() call.

syzbot reported:

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in nft_set_catchall_destroy net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4486 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in nft_set_destroy net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4504 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in nft_set_destroy+0x3fd/0x4f0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4493 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8880716e5b80 by task syz-executor.3/8871

CPU: 1 PID: 8871 Comm: syz-executor.3 Not tainted 5.16.0-rc5-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xcd/0x134 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description.constprop.0.cold+0x8d/0x2ed mm/kasan/report.c:247 __kasan_report mm/kasan/report.c:433 [inline] kasan_report.cold+0x83/0xdf mm/kasan/report.c:450 nft_set_catchall_destroy net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4486 [inline] nft_set_destroy net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4504 [inline] nft_set_destroy+0x3fd/0x4f0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4493 __nft_release_table+0x79f/0xcd0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:9626 nft_rcv_nl_event+0x4f8/0x670 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:9688 notifier_call_chain+0xb5/0x200 kernel/notifier.c:83 blocking_notifier_call_chain kernel/notifier.c:318 [inline] blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x67/0x90 kernel/notifier.c:306 netlink_release+0xcb6/0x1dd0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:788 __sock_release+0xcd/0x280 net/socket.c:649 sock_close+0x18/0x20 net/socket.c:1314 __fput+0x286/0x9f0 fs/file_table.c:280 task_work_run+0xdd/0x1a0 kernel/task_work.c:164 tracehook_notify_resume include/linux/tracehook.h:189 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:175 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x27e/0x290 kernel/entry/common.c:207 __syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:289 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x19/0x60 kernel/entry/common.c:300 do_syscall_64+0x42/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:86 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae RIP: 0033:0x7f75fbf28adb Code: 0f 05 48 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 45 c3 0f 1f 40 00 48 83 ec 18 89 7c 24 0c e8 63 fc ff ff 8b 7c 24 0c 41 89 c0 b8 03 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 35 44 89 c7 89 44 24 0c e8 a1 fc ff ff 8b 44 RSP: 002b:00007ffd8da7ec10 EFLAGS: 00000293 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000003 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000004 RCX: 00007f75fbf28adb RDX: 00007f75fc08e828 RSI: ffffffffffffffff RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007f75fc08a960 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00007f75fc08e830 R10: 00007ffd8da7ed10 R11: 0000000000000293 R12: 00000000002067c3 R13: 00007ffd8da7ed10 R14: 00007f75fc088f60 R15: 0000000000000032 </TASK>

Allocated by task 8886: kasan_save_stack+0x1e/0x50 mm/kasan/common.c:38 kasan_set_track mm/kasan/common.c:46 [inline] set_alloc_info mm/kasan/common.c:434 [inline] ____kasan_kmalloc mm/kasan/common.c:513 [inline] ____kasan_kmalloc mm/kasan/common.c:472 [inline] __kasan_kmalloc+0xa6/0xd0 mm/kasan/common.c:522 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:269 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x1ea/0x4a0 mm/slab.c:3575 kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:590 [inline] nft_setelem_catchall_insert net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:5544 [inline] nft_setelem_insert net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:5562 [inline] nft_add_set_elem+0x232e/0x2f40 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:5936 nf_tables_newsetelem+0x6ff/0xbb0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:6032 nfnetlink_rcv_batch+0x1710/0x25f0 net/netfilter/nfnetlink.c:513 nfnetlink_rcv_skb_batch net/netfilter/nfnetlink.c:634 [inline] nfnetlink_rcv+0x3af/0x420 net/netfilter/nfnetlink.c:652 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x533/0x7d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345 netlink_sendmsg+0x904/0xdf0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1921 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/ ---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47106?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2021-47106?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2021-47106 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47106 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47106, GHSA-gmwj-428v-53wv, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47106.