# CVE-2021-47557: net/sched: sch_ets: don't peek at classes beyond 'nbands'

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's ETS scheduler allows local attackers to cause a system crash by triggering specific network queue conditions.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47557, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47557

## What is CVE-2021-47557?

CVE-2021-47557 is a medium-severity 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:

net/sched: sch_ets: don't peek at classes beyond 'nbands'

when the number of DRR classes decreases, the round-robin active list can
contain elements that have already been freed in ets_qdisc_change(). As a
consequence, it's possible to see a NULL dereference crash, caused by the
attempt to call cl->qdisc->ops->peek(cl->qdisc) when cl->qdisc is NULL:

 BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018
 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
 #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
 PGD 0 P4D 0
 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
 CPU: 1 PID: 910 Comm: mausezahn Not tainted 5.16.0-rc1+ #475
 Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.11.1-4.module+el8.1.0+4066+0f1aadab 04/01/2014
 RIP: 0010:ets_qdisc_dequeue+0x129/0x2c0 [sch_ets]
 Code: c5 01 41 39 ad e4 02 00 00 0f 87 18 ff ff ff 49 8b 85 c0 02 00 00 49 39 c4 0f 84 ba 00 00 00 49 8b ad c0 02 00 00 48 8b 7d 10 <48> 8b 47 18 48 8b 40 38 0f ae e8 ff d0 48 89 c3 48 85 c0 0f 84 9d
 RSP: 0000:ffffbb36c0b5fdd8 EFLAGS: 00010287
 RAX: ffff956678efed30 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000
 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: ffffffff9b938dc9 RDI: 0000000000000000
 RBP: ffff956678efed30 R08: e2f3207fe360129c R09: 0000000000000000
 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff956678efeac0
 R13: ffff956678efe800 R14: ffff956611545000 R15: ffff95667ac8f100
 FS:  00007f2aa9120740(0000) GS:ffff95667b800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 CR2: 0000000000000018 CR3: 000000011070c000 CR4: 0000000000350ee0
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  qdisc_peek_dequeued+0x29/0x70 [sch_ets]
  tbf_dequeue+0x22/0x260 [sch_tbf]
  __qdisc_run+0x7f/0x630
  net_tx_action+0x290/0x4c0
  __do_softirq+0xee/0x4f8
  irq_exit_rcu+0xf4/0x130
  sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x52/0xc0
  asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x12/0x20
 RIP: 0033:0x7f2aa7fc9ad4
 Code: b9 ff ff 48 8b 54 24 18 48 83 c4 08 48 89 ee 48 89 df 5b 5d e9 ed fc ff ff 0f 1f 00 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa <53> 48 83 ec 10 48 8b 05 10 64 33 00 48 8b 00 48 85 c0 0f 85 84 00
 RSP: 002b:00007ffe5d33fab8 EFLAGS: 00000202
 RAX: 0000000000000002 RBX: 0000561f72c31460 RCX: 0000561f72c31720
 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000561f72c31722 RDI: 0000561f72c31720
 RBP: 000000000000002a R08: 00007ffe5d33fa40 R09: 0000000000000014
 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000561f7187e380
 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000561f72c31460
  </TASK>
 Modules linked in: sch_ets sch_tbf dummy rfkill iTCO_wdt intel_rapl_msr iTCO_vendor_support intel_rapl_common joydev virtio_balloon lpc_ich i2c_i801 i2c_smbus pcspkr ip_tables xfs libcrc32c crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul crc32c_intel ahci libahci ghash_clmulni_intel serio_raw libata virtio_blk virtio_console virtio_net net_failover failover sunrpc dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_mod
 CR2: 0000000000000018

Ensuring that 'alist' was never zeroed [1] was not sufficient, we need to
remove from the active list those elements that are no more SP nor DRR.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/60d274838bf09777f0371253416e8af71360bc08.1633609148.git.dcaratti@redhat.com/

v3: fix race between ets_qdisc_change() and ets_qdisc_dequeue() delisting
    DRR classes beyond 'nbands' in ets_qdisc_change() with the qdisc lock
    acquired, thanks to Cong Wang.

v2: when a NULL qdisc is found in the DRR active list, try to dequeue skb
    from the next list item.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47557?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47557?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47557 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47557 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-2021-47557 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47557 is a medium-severity 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-2021-47557 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-2021-47557/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47557/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47557
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47557
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47557

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47557/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.