# CVE-2021-47560: mlxsw: spectrum: Protect driver from buggy firmware

> A NULL pointer dereference in the mlxsw spectrum driver can cause a denial of service when processing buggy firmware events for the CPU port.

- **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-2021-47560, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47560

## What is CVE-2021-47560?

CVE-2021-47560 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:

mlxsw: spectrum: Protect driver from buggy firmware

When processing port up/down events generated by the device's firmware,
the driver protects itself from events reported for non-existent local
ports, but not the CPU port (local port 0), which exists, but lacks a
netdev.

This can result in a NULL pointer dereference when calling
netif_carrier_{on,off}().

Fix this by bailing early when processing an event reported for the CPU
port. Problem was only observed when running on top of a buggy emulator.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47560?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47560?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47560 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47560 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-2021-47560 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47560 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-2021-47560 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-2021-47560/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47560/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47560
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47560
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47560

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47560/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.