# CVE-2021-47199: net/mlx5e: CT, Fix multiple allocations and memleak of mod acts

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's mlx5e driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service via repeated flow offload events.

- **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:** 10 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47199, GHSA-q54v-653w-2v9v, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2021-47199, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47199

## What is CVE-2021-47199?

CVE-2021-47199 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:

net/mlx5e: CT, Fix multiple allocations and memleak of mod acts

CT clear action offload adds additional mod hdr actions to the
flow's original mod actions in order to clear the registers which
hold ct_state.
When such flow also includes encap action, a neigh update event
can cause the driver to unoffload the flow and then reoffload it.

Each time this happens, the ct clear handling adds that same set
of mod hdr actions to reset ct_state until the max of mod hdr
actions is reached.

Also the driver never releases the allocated mod hdr actions and
causing a memleak.

Fix above two issues by moving CT clear mod acts allocation
into the parsing actions phase and only use it when offloading the rule.
The release of mod acts will be done in the normal flow_put().

 backtrace:
    [<000000007316e2f3>] krealloc+0x83/0xd0
    [<00000000ef157de1>] mlx5e_mod_hdr_alloc+0x147/0x300 [mlx5_core]
    [<00000000970ce4ae>] mlx5e_tc_match_to_reg_set_and_get_id+0xd7/0x240 [mlx5_core]
    [<0000000067c5fa17>] mlx5e_tc_match_to_reg_set+0xa/0x20 [mlx5_core]
    [<00000000d032eb98>] mlx5_tc_ct_entry_set_registers.isra.0+0x36/0xc0 [mlx5_core]
    [<00000000fd23b869>] mlx5_tc_ct_flow_offload+0x272/0x1f10 [mlx5_core]
    [<000000004fc24acc>] mlx5e_tc_offload_fdb_rules.part.0+0x150/0x620 [mlx5_core]
    [<00000000dc741c17>] mlx5e_tc_encap_flows_add+0x489/0x690 [mlx5_core]
    [<00000000e92e49d7>] mlx5e_rep_update_flows+0x6e4/0x9b0 [mlx5_core]
    [<00000000f60f5602>] mlx5e_rep_neigh_update+0x39a/0x5d0 [mlx5_core]

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47199?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47199?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47199 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47199 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-2021-47199 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47199 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-2021-47199 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-2021-47199/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47199/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47199
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47199
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47199

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47199/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.