CVE-2021-47221
kernel: mm/slub: actually fix freelist pointer vs redzoning
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · May 21, 2024
Updated · November 21, 2025
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/slub: actually fix freelist pointer vs redzoning
It turns out that SLUB redzoning ("slub_debug=Z") checks from s->object_size rather than from s->inuse (which is normally bumped to make room for the freelist pointer), so a cache created with an object size less than 24 would have the freelist pointer written beyond s->object_size, causing the redzone to be corrupted by the freelist pointer. This was very visible with "slub_debug=ZF":
BUG test (Tainted: G B ): Right Redzone overwritten
INFO: 0xffff957ead1c05de-0xffff957ead1c05df @offset=1502. First byte 0x1a instead of 0xbb INFO: Slab 0xffffef3950b47000 objects=170 used=170 fp=0x0000000000000000 flags=0x8000000000000200 INFO: Object 0xffff957ead1c05d8 @offset=1496 fp=0xffff957ead1c0620
Redzone (ptrval): bb bb bb bb bb bb bb bb ........ Object (ptrval): 00 00 00 00 00 f6 f4 a5 ........ Redzone (ptrval): 40 1d e8 1a aa @.... Padding (ptrval): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
Adjust the offset to stay within s->object_size.
(Note that no caches of in this size range are known to exist in the kernel currently.)
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 5.5CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-99 · Improper Control of Resource Identifiers ('Resource Injection')