Linux Kernel up to 5.15.5 vmcore clear_user memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.5 and classified as critical. This affects the function clear_user of the component vmcore. Such manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2021-47566. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.5. Affected by this issue is the function clear_user of the component vmcore. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: proc/vmcore: fix clearing user buffer by properly using clear_user() To clear a user buffer we cannot simply use memset, we have to use clear_user(). With a virtio-mem device that registers a vmcore_cb and has some logically unplugged memory inside an added Linux memory block, I can easily trigger a BUG by copying the vmcore via "cp": systemd[1]: Starting Kdump Vmcore Save Service... kdump[420]: Kdump is using the default log level(3). kdump[453]: saving to /sysroot/var/crash/127.0.0.1-2021-11-11-14:59:22/ kdump[458]: saving vmcore-dmesg.txt to /sysroot/var/crash/127.0.0.1-2021-11-11-14:59:22/ kdump[465]: saving vmcore-dmesg.txt complete kdump[467]: saving vmcore BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 00007f2374e01000 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0003) - permissions violation PGD 7a523067 P4D 7a523067 PUD 7a528067 PMD 7a525067 PTE 800000007048f867 Oops: 0003 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 0 PID: 468 Comm: cp Not tainted 5.15.0+ #6 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.14.0-27-g64f37cc530f1-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:read_from_oldmem.part.0.cold+0x1d/0x86 Code: ff ff ff e8 05 ff fe ff e9 b9 e9 7f ff 48 89 de 48 c7 c7 38 3b 60 82 e8 f1 fe fe ff 83 fd 08 72 3c 49 8d 7d 08 4c 89 e9 89 e8 c7 45 00 00 00 00 00 49 c7 44 05 f8 00 00 00 00 48 83 e7 f81 RSP: 0018:ffffc9000073be08 EFLAGS: 00010212 RAX: 0000000000001000 RBX: 00000000002fd000 RCX: 00007f2374e01000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 00000000ffffdfff RDI: 00007f2374e01008 RBP: 0000000000001000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffc9000073bc50 R10: ffffc9000073bc48 R11: ffffffff829461a8 R12: 000000000000f000 R13: 00007f2374e01000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88807bd421e8 FS: 00007f2374e12140(0000) GS:ffff88807f000000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f2374e01000 CR3: 000000007a4aa000 CR4: 0000000000350eb0 Call Trace: read_vmcore+0x236/0x2c0 proc_reg_read+0x55/0xa0 vfs_read+0x95/0x190 ksys_read+0x4f/0xc0 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae Some x86-64 CPUs have a CPU feature called "Supervisor Mode Access Prevention (SMAP)", which is used to detect wrong access from the kernel to user buffers like this: SMAP triggers a permissions violation on wrong access. In the x86-64 variant of clear_user(), SMAP is properly handled via clac()+stac(). To fix, properly use clear_user() when we're dealing with a user buffer.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2021-47566. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/19/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 207689 (RHEL 8 : kernel (RHSA-2024:6993)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.4.294, 4.9.292, 4.14.257, 4.19.219, 5.4.163, 5.10.83 or 5.15.6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch a9e164bd160b/33a7d698f30f/99d348b82bcb/9ef384ed300d/fd7974c547ab/a8a917058faf/7b3a34f08d11/c1e631177119 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (207689). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 4.4.293
• 4.9.291
• 4.14.256
• 4.19.218
• 5.4.162
• 5.10.0
• 5.10.1
• 5.10.2
• 5.10.3
• 5.10.4
• 5.10.5
• 5.10.6
• 5.10.7
• 5.10.8
• 5.10.9
• 5.10.10
• 5.10.11
• 5.10.12
• 5.10.13
• 5.10.14
• 5.10.15
• 5.10.16
• 5.10.17
• 5.10.18
• 5.10.19
• 5.10.20
• 5.10.21
• 5.10.22
• 5.10.23
• 5.10.24
• 5.10.25
• 5.10.26
• 5.10.27
• 5.10.28
• 5.10.29
• 5.10.30
• 5.10.31
• 5.10.32
• 5.10.33
• 5.10.34
• 5.10.35
• 5.10.36
• 5.10.37
• 5.10.38
• 5.10.39
• 5.10.40
• 5.10.41
• 5.10.42
• 5.10.43
• 5.10.44
• 5.10.45
• 5.10.46
• 5.10.47
• 5.10.48
• 5.10.49
• 5.10.50
• 5.10.51
• 5.10.52
• 5.10.53
• 5.10.54
• 5.10.55
• 5.10.56
• 5.10.57
• 5.10.58
• 5.10.59
• 5.10.60
• 5.10.61
• 5.10.62
• 5.10.63
• 5.10.64
• 5.10.65
• 5.10.66
• 5.10.67
• 5.10.68
• 5.10.69
• 5.10.70
• 5.10.71
• 5.10.72
• 5.10.73
• 5.10.74
• 5.10.75
• 5.10.76
• 5.10.77
• 5.10.78
• 5.10.79
• 5.10.80
• 5.10.81
• 5.10.82
• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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