# CVE-2021-47185: tty: tty_buffer: Fix the softlockup issue in flush_to_ldisc

> A local attacker can cause a soft lockup in the Linux kernel's tty buffer handling by rapidly writing to a pty, leading to a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47185, GHSA-gvxc-64wh-vgv2, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47185

## What is CVE-2021-47185?

CVE-2021-47185 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 10 Apr 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:

tty: tty_buffer: Fix the softlockup issue in flush_to_ldisc

When running ltp testcase(ltp/testcases/kernel/pty/pty04.c) with arm64, there is a soft lockup,
which look like this one:

  Workqueue: events_unbound flush_to_ldisc
  Call trace:
   dump_backtrace+0x0/0x1ec
   show_stack+0x24/0x30
   dump_stack+0xd0/0x128
   panic+0x15c/0x374
   watchdog_timer_fn+0x2b8/0x304
   __run_hrtimer+0x88/0x2c0
   __hrtimer_run_queues+0xa4/0x120
   hrtimer_interrupt+0xfc/0x270
   arch_timer_handler_phys+0x40/0x50
   handle_percpu_devid_irq+0x94/0x220
   __handle_domain_irq+0x88/0xf0
   gic_handle_irq+0x84/0xfc
   el1_irq+0xc8/0x180
   slip_unesc+0x80/0x214 [slip]
   tty_ldisc_receive_buf+0x64/0x80
   tty_port_default_receive_buf+0x50/0x90
   flush_to_ldisc+0xbc/0x110
   process_one_work+0x1d4/0x4b0
   worker_thread+0x180/0x430
   kthread+0x11c/0x120

In the testcase pty04, The first process call the write syscall to send
data to the pty master. At the same time, the workqueue will do the
flush_to_ldisc to pop data in a loop until there is no more data left.
When the sender and workqueue running in different core, the sender sends
data fastly in full time which will result in workqueue doing work in loop
for a long time and occuring softlockup in flush_to_ldisc with kernel
configured without preempt. So I add need_resched check and cond_resched
in the flush_to_ldisc loop to avoid it.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47185?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47185?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47185 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47185 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-2021-47185 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47185 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 10 Apr 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-2021-47185 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-2021-47185/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47185/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47185
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47185
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47185

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47185/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.