CVE-2021-47222 net: bridge: fix vlan tunnel dst refcnt when egressing

High 7.8 Published 21 May 2024 Updated 5 Aug 2026

A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel bridge module allows attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted network traffic.

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

What is CVE-2021-47222?

CVE-2021-47222 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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: bridge: fix vlan tunnel dst refcnt when egressing

The egress tunnel code uses dst_clone() and directly sets the result which is wrong because the entry might have 0 refcnt or be already deleted, causing number of problems. It also triggers the WARN_ON() in dst_hold()[1] when a refcnt couldn't be taken. Fix it by using dst_hold_safe() and checking if a reference was actually taken before setting the dst.

[1] dmesg WARN_ON log and following refcnt errors WARNING: CPU: 5 PID: 38 at include/net/dst.h:230 br_handle_egress_vlan_tunnel+0x10b/0x134 [bridge] Modules linked in: 8021q garp mrp bridge stp llc bonding ipv6 virtio_net CPU: 5 PID: 38 Comm: ksoftirqd/5 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W 5.13.0-rc3+ #360 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.14.0-1.fc33 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:br_handle_egress_vlan_tunnel+0x10b/0x134 [bridge] Code: e8 85 bc 01 e1 45 84 f6 74 90 45 31 f6 85 db 48 c7 c7 a0 02 19 a0 41 0f 94 c6 31 c9 31 d2 44 89 f6 e8 64 bc 01 e1 85 db 75 02 <0f> 0b 31 c9 31 d2 44 89 f6 48 c7 c7 70 02 19 a0 e8 4b bc 01 e1 49 RSP: 0018:ffff8881003d39e8 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffffffffa01902a0 RBP: ffff8881040c6700 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: 2ce93d0054fe0d00 R11: 54fe0d00000e0000 R12: ffff888109515000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000401 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88822bf40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f42ba70f030 CR3: 0000000109926000 CR4: 00000000000006e0 Call Trace: br_handle_vlan+0xbc/0xca [bridge] __br_forward+0x23/0x164 [bridge] deliver_clone+0x41/0x48 [bridge] br_handle_frame_finish+0x36f/0x3aa [bridge] ? skb_dst+0x2e/0x38 [bridge] ? br_handle_ingress_vlan_tunnel+0x3e/0x1c8 [bridge] ? br_handle_frame_finish+0x3aa/0x3aa [bridge] br_handle_frame+0x2c3/0x377 [bridge] ? __skb_pull+0x33/0x51 ? vlan_do_receive+0x4f/0x36a ? br_handle_frame_finish+0x3aa/0x3aa [bridge] __netif_receive_skb_core+0x539/0x7c6 ? __list_del_entry_valid+0x16e/0x1c2 __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x6d/0xd6 netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1d9/0x1fa gro_normal_list+0x22/0x3e dev_gro_receive+0x55b/0x600 ? detach_buf_split+0x58/0x140 napi_gro_receive+0x94/0x12e virtnet_poll+0x15d/0x315 [virtio_net] __napi_poll+0x2c/0x1c9 net_rx_action+0xe6/0x1fb __do_softirq+0x115/0x2d8 run_ksoftirqd+0x18/0x20 smpboot_thread_fn+0x183/0x19c ? smpboot_unregister_percpu_thread+0x66/0x66 kthread+0x10a/0x10f ? kthread_mod_delayed_work+0xb6/0xb6 ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30 ---[ end trace 49f61b07f775fd2b ]--- dst_release: dst:00000000c02d677a refcnt:-1 dst_release underflow

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47222?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2021-47222?

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-2021-47222 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47222 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47222, GHSA-h423-6g7m-qpqq, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47222.