Vulnerability · Published Feb 27, 2024 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2021-46921locking/qrwlock: Fix ordering in queued_write_lock_slowpath()

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 15% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 85.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: locking/qrwlock: Fix ordering in queued_write_lock_slowpath() While this code is executed with the wait_lock held, a reader can acquire the lock without holding wait_lock. The writer side loops checking the value with the atomic_cond_read_acquire(), but only truly acquires the lock when the compare-and-exchange is completed successfully which isn’t ordered. This exposes the window between the acquire and the cmpxchg to an A-B-A problem which allows reads following the lock acquisition to observe values speculatively before the write lock is truly acquired. We've seen a problem in epoll where the reader does a xchg while holding the read lock, but the writer can see a value change out from under it. Writer | Reader -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ep_scan_ready_list() | |- write_lock_irq() | |- queued_write_lock_slowpath() | |- atomic_cond_read_acquire() | | read_lock_irqsave(&ep->lock, flags); --> (observes value before unlock) | chain_epi_lockless() | | epi->next = xchg(&ep->ovflist, epi); | | read_unlock_irqrestore(&ep->lock, flags); | | | atomic_cmpxchg_relaxed() | |-- READ_ONCE(ep->ovflist); | A core can order the read of the ovflist ahead of the atomic_cmpxchg_relaxed(). Switching the cmpxchg to use acquire semantics addresses this issue at which point the atomic_cond_read can be switched to use relaxed semantics. [peterz: use try_cmpxchg()]

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux5.10.38-1DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46921
Debian:13linux5.10.38-1DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46921
Debian:14linux5.10.38-1DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46921

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux b519b56e378ee82caf9b079b04f5db87dedc3251 – before 5902f9453a313be8fe78cbd7e7ca9dba9319fc6eb519b56e378ee82caf9b079b04f5db87dedc3251 – before 82808cc026811fbc3ecf0c0b267a12a339eead56b519b56e378ee82caf9b079b04f5db87dedc3251 – before 82fa9ced35d88581cffa4a1c856fc41fca96d80ab519b56e378ee82caf9b079b04f5db87dedc3251 – before d558fcdb17139728347bccc60a16af3e639649d2b519b56e378ee82caf9b079b04f5db87dedc3251 – before 84a24bf8c52e66b7ac89ada5e3cfbe72d65c1896
Linux Linux 4.15

References