CVE-2021-47190 perf bpf: Avoid memory leak from perf_env__insert_btf()

What is CVE-2021-47190?

CVE-2021-47190 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:

perf bpf: Avoid memory leak from perf_env__insert_btf()

perf_env__insert_btf() doesn't insert if a duplicate BTF id is encountered and this causes a memory leak. Modify the function to return a success/error value and then free the memory if insertion didn't happen.

v2. Adds a return -1 when the insertion error occurs in perf_env__fetch_btf. This doesn't affect anything as the result is never checked.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47190?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2021-47190?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2021-47190 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47190 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-2021-47190, GHSA-4jv7-xrm9-5fjr, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47190.