# CVE-2021-47617: PCI: pciehp: Fix infinite loop in IRQ handler upon power fault

> A local attacker with physical access or specific hardware conditions can trigger an infinite loop in the Linux kernel PCI hotplug IRQ handler, causing a system hang.

- **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:** 20 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47617, GHSA-r68c-p976-5jmg, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47617

## What is CVE-2021-47617?

CVE-2021-47617 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 Jun 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:

PCI: pciehp: Fix infinite loop in IRQ handler upon power fault

The Power Fault Detected bit in the Slot Status register differs from
all other hotplug events in that it is sticky:  It can only be cleared
after turning off slot power.  Per PCIe r5.0, sec. 6.7.1.8:

  If a power controller detects a main power fault on the hot-plug slot,
  it must automatically set its internal main power fault latch [...].
  The main power fault latch is cleared when software turns off power to
  the hot-plug slot.

The stickiness used to cause interrupt storms and infinite loops which
were fixed in 2009 by commits 5651c48cfafe ("PCI pciehp: fix power fault
interrupt storm problem") and 99f0169c17f3 ("PCI: pciehp: enable
software notification on empty slots").

Unfortunately in 2020 the infinite loop issue was inadvertently
reintroduced by commit 8edf5332c393 ("PCI: pciehp: Fix MSI interrupt
race"):  The hardirq handler pciehp_isr() clears the PFD bit until
pciehp's power_fault_detected flag is set.  That happens in the IRQ
thread pciehp_ist(), which never learns of the event because the hardirq
handler is stuck in an infinite loop.  Fix by setting the
power_fault_detected flag already in the hardirq handler.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47617?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-47617?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-47617 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47617 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-2021-47617 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-47617 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 Jun 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-2021-47617 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-2021-47617/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47617/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-47617
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-47617
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-47617

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-47617/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.