# CVE-2021-47546: ipv6: fix memory leak in fib6_rule_suppress

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel IPv6 routing code allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted network traffic.

- **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:** 24 May 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47546, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47546

## What is CVE-2021-47546?

CVE-2021-47546 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 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:

ipv6: fix memory leak in fib6_rule_suppress

The kernel leaks memory when a `fib` rule is present in IPv6 nftables
firewall rules and a suppress_prefix rule is present in the IPv6 routing
rules (used by certain tools such as wg-quick). In such scenarios, every
incoming packet will leak an allocation in `ip6_dst_cache` slab cache.

After some hours of `bpftrace`-ing and source code reading, I tracked
down the issue to ca7a03c41753 ("ipv6: do not free rt if
FIB_LOOKUP_NOREF is set on suppress rule").

The problem with that change is that the generic `args->flags` always have
`FIB_LOOKUP_NOREF` set[1][2] but the IPv6-specific flag
`RT6_LOOKUP_F_DST_NOREF` might not be, leading to `fib6_rule_suppress` not
decreasing the refcount when needed.

How to reproduce:
 - Add the following nftables rule to a prerouting chain:
     meta nfproto ipv6 fib saddr . mark . iif oif missing drop
   This can be done with:
     sudo nft create table inet test
     sudo nft create chain inet test test_chain '{ type filter hook prerouting priority filter + 10; policy accept; }'
     sudo nft add rule inet test test_chain meta nfproto ipv6 fib saddr . mark . iif oif missing drop
 - Run:
     sudo ip -6 rule add table main suppress_prefixlength 0
 - Watch `sudo slabtop -o | grep ip6_dst_cache` to see memory usage increase
   with every incoming ipv6 packet.

This patch exposes the protocol-specific flags to the protocol
specific `suppress` function, and check the protocol-specific `flags`
argument for RT6_LOOKUP_F_DST_NOREF instead of the generic
FIB_LOOKUP_NOREF when decreasing the refcount, like this.

[1]: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/ca7a03c4175366a92cee0ccc4fec0038c3266e26/net/ipv6/fib6_rules.c#L71
[2]: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/ca7a03c4175366a92cee0ccc4fec0038c3266e26/net/ipv6/fib6_rules.c#L99

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47546?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47546?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47546 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47546 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-2021-47546 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47546 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 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-2021-47546 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-2021-47546/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47546/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47546
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47546
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47546

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47546/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.