# CVE-2021-47170: USB: usbfs: Don't WARN about excessively large memory allocations

> A local attacker can trigger kernel warnings via large USB transfers, potentially causing log spam or resource exhaustion, requiring a kernel patch.

- **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:** 25 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47170, GHSA-c673-578f-v4xm, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47170

## What is CVE-2021-47170?

CVE-2021-47170 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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:

USB: usbfs: Don't WARN about excessively large memory allocations

Syzbot found that the kernel generates a WARNing if the user tries to
submit a bulk transfer through usbfs with a buffer that is way too
large.  This isn't a bug in the kernel; it's merely an invalid request
from the user and the usbfs code does handle it correctly.

In theory the same thing can happen with async transfers, or with the
packet descriptor table for isochronous transfers.

To prevent the MM subsystem from complaining about these bad
allocation requests, add the __GFP_NOWARN flag to the kmalloc calls
for these buffers.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47170?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47170?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47170 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47170 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-2021-47170 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47170 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2021-47170 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-2021-47170/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47170/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47170
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47170
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47170

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47170/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.