CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2021-46990

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/64s: Fix crashes when toggling entry flush barrier The entry flush mitigation can be enabled/disabled at runtime via a debugfs file (entry_flush), which causes the kernel to patch itself to enable/disable the relevant mitigations. However depending on which mitigation we're using, it may not be safe to do that patching while other CPUs are active. For example the following crash: sleeper[15639]: segfault (11) at c000000000004c20 nip c000000000004c20 lr c000000000004c20 Shows that we returned to userspace with a corrupted LR that points into the kernel, due to executing the partially patched call to the fallback entry flush (ie. we missed the LR restore). Fix it by doing the patching under stop machine. The CPUs that aren't doing the patching will be spinning in the core of the stop machine logic. That is currently sufficient for our purposes, because none of the patching we do is to that code or anywhere in the vicinity.

How to fix

Remediation Available
linuxDebian
Fixed in:5.10.38-1CVE-2021-46990
Fixed in:5.10.38-1CVE-2021-46990
Fixed in:5.10.38-1CVE-2021-46990
Fixed in:5.10.38-1CVE-2021-46990
linuxUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-253.287USN-6739-1
linux-awsUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-1130.136USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0-1168.183USN-6739-1
linux-image-4.4.0-1130-awsUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-1130.136USN-6739-1
linux-image-4.4.0-1131-kvmUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-1131.141USN-6739-1
linux-image-4.4.0-1168-awsUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-1168.183USN-6739-1
linux-image-4.4.0-253-genericUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-253.287~14.04.1USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0-253.287USN-6739-1
linux-image-4.4.0-253-lowlatencyUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-253.287~14.04.1USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0-253.287USN-6739-1
linux-image-awsUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.1130.127USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0.1168.172USN-6739-1
linux-image-genericUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.259USN-6739-1
linux-image-generic-lts-xenialUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.287~14.04.1USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.259USN-6739-1
linux-image-kvmUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.1131.128USN-6739-1
linux-image-lowlatencyUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.259USN-6739-1
linux-image-lowlatency-lts-xenialUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.287~14.04.1USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.259USN-6739-1
linux-image-virtualUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.259USN-6739-1
linux-image-virtual-lts-xenialUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.287~14.04.1USN-6739-1
Fixed in:4.4.0.253.259USN-6739-1
linux-kvmUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-1131.141USN-6739-1
linux-lts-xenialUbuntu
Fixed in:4.4.0-253.287~14.04.1USN-6739-1

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
ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityHigh

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

Exploit Intelligence

0.23%probability of exploitation in 30 days
14thpercentile

Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 14% of all known CVEs.

References

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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 2024-12-26.