CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2021-4440

HIGH
8.8
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/xen: Drop USERGS_SYSRET64 paravirt call commit afd30525a659ac0ae0904f0cb4a2ca75522c3123 upstream. USERGS_SYSRET64 is used to return from a syscall via SYSRET, but a Xen PV guest will nevertheless use the IRET hypercall, as there is no sysret PV hypercall defined. So instead of testing all the prerequisites for doing a sysret and then mangling the stack for Xen PV again for doing an iret just use the iret exit from the beginning. This can easily be done via an ALTERNATIVE like it is done for the sysenter compat case already. It should be noted that this drops the optimization in Xen for not restoring a few registers when returning to user mode, but it seems as if the saved instructions in the kernel more than compensate for this drop (a kernel build in a Xen PV guest was slightly faster with this patch applied). While at it remove the stale sysret32 remnants. [ pawan: Brad Spengler and Salvatore Bonaccorso <[email protected]> reported a problem with the 5.10 backport commit edc702b4a820 ("x86/entry_64: Add VERW just before userspace transition"). When CONFIG_PARAVIRT_XXL=y, CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS is not executed in syscall_return_via_sysret path as USERGS_SYSRET64 is runtime patched to: .cpu_usergs_sysret64 = { 0x0f, 0x01, 0xf8, 0x48, 0x0f, 0x07 }, // swapgs; sysretq which is missing CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS. It turns out dropping USERGS_SYSRET64 simplifies the code, allowing CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS to be explicitly added to syscall_return_via_sysret path. Below is with CONFIG_PARAVIRT_XXL=y and this patch applied: syscall_return_via_sysret: ... <+342>: swapgs <+345>: xchg %ax,%ax <+347>: verw -0x1a2(%rip) <------ <+354>: sysretq ]

How to fix

Remediation Available
linuxDebian
Fixed in:5.10.218-1CVE-2021-4440

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

0.23%probability of exploitation in 30 days
13thpercentile

Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 13% of all known CVEs.

References

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-400 (Resource Exhaustion) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVESeverityCVSSEPSSExploitedFix
CVE-2023-44487High7.5100%KEVFix
CVE-2021-44228Critical10.0100%KEV + RansomFix
CVE-2011-3192High7.899%-Fix
CVE-2019-11478Medium5.395%-Fix
CVE-2024-25617Medium5.389%-Fix
CVE-2018-1000115High7.589%-Fix
Embed a live status badge for CVE-2021-4440
CVE-2021-4440 severity badge

Markdown

[![CVE-2021-4440](https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2021-4440.svg)](https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2021-4440)

HTML

<a href="https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2021-4440"><img src="https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2021-4440.svg" alt="CVE-2021-4440"></a>

Find and fix vulnerabilities across your fleet

TridentStack Control continuously scans your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet for known vulnerabilities, prioritizes them by severity and active exploitation, and patches them automatically.

Start free

This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-03-24.