# CVE-2021-47455: ptp: Fix possible memory leak in ptp_clock_register()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel PTP driver allows attackers to cause denial of service by triggering error paths that fail to free allocated memory.

- **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:** 22 May 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47455, GHSA-2r2x-3jh4-chhv, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2021-47455, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47455

## What is CVE-2021-47455?

CVE-2021-47455 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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:

ptp: Fix possible memory leak in ptp_clock_register()

I got memory leak as follows when doing fault injection test:

unreferenced object 0xffff88800906c618 (size 8):
  comm "i2c-idt82p33931", pid 4421, jiffies 4294948083 (age 13.188s)
  hex dump (first 8 bytes):
    70 74 70 30 00 00 00 00                          ptp0....
  backtrace:
    [<00000000312ed458>] __kmalloc_track_caller+0x19f/0x3a0
    [<0000000079f6e2ff>] kvasprintf+0xb5/0x150
    [<0000000026aae54f>] kvasprintf_const+0x60/0x190
    [<00000000f323a5f7>] kobject_set_name_vargs+0x56/0x150
    [<000000004e35abdd>] dev_set_name+0xc0/0x100
    [<00000000f20cfe25>] ptp_clock_register+0x9f4/0xd30 [ptp]
    [<000000008bb9f0de>] idt82p33_probe.cold+0x8b6/0x1561 [ptp_idt82p33]

When posix_clock_register() returns an error, the name allocated
in dev_set_name() will be leaked, the put_device() should be used
to give up the device reference, then the name will be freed in
kobject_cleanup() and other memory will be freed in ptp_clock_release().

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47455?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47455?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47455 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47455 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-2021-47455 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47455 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 May 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-2021-47455 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-2021-47455/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47455/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47455
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47455
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47455

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47455/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.