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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

Moderate severity Unreviewed Published May 22, 2024 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Sep 24, 2025

Package

No package listedSuggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netfilter: xt_IDLETIMER: fix panic that occurs when timer_type has garbage value

Currently, when the rule related to IDLETIMER is added, idletimer_tg timer
structure is initialized by kmalloc on executing idletimer_tg_create
function. However, in this process timer->timer_type is not defined to
a specific value. Thus, timer->timer_type has garbage value and it occurs
kernel panic. So, this commit fixes the panic by initializing
timer->timer_type using kzalloc instead of kmalloc.

Test commands:
# iptables -A OUTPUT -j IDLETIMER --timeout 1 --label test
$ cat /sys/class/xt_idletimer/timers/test
Killed

Splat looks like:
BUG: KASAN: user-memory-access in alarm_expires_remaining+0x49/0x70
Read of size 8 at addr 0000002e8c7bc4c8 by task cat/917
CPU: 12 PID: 917 Comm: cat Not tainted 5.14.0+ #3 79940a339f71eb14fc81aee1757a20d5bf13eb0e
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.13.0-1ubuntu1.1 04/01/2014
Call Trace:
dump_stack_lvl+0x6e/0x9c
kasan_report.cold+0x112/0x117
? alarm_expires_remaining+0x49/0x70
__asan_load8+0x86/0xb0
alarm_expires_remaining+0x49/0x70
idletimer_tg_show+0xe5/0x19b [xt_IDLETIMER 11219304af9316a21bee5ba9d58f76a6b9bccc6d]
dev_attr_show+0x3c/0x60
sysfs_kf_seq_show+0x11d/0x1f0
? device_remove_bin_file+0x20/0x20
kernfs_seq_show+0xa4/0xb0
seq_read_iter+0x29c/0x750
kernfs_fop_read_iter+0x25a/0x2c0
? __fsnotify_parent+0x3d1/0x570
? iov_iter_init+0x70/0x90
new_sync_read+0x2a7/0x3d0
? __x64_sys_llseek+0x230/0x230
? rw_verify_area+0x81/0x150
vfs_read+0x17b/0x240
ksys_read+0xd9/0x180
? vfs_write+0x460/0x460
? do_syscall_64+0x16/0xc0
? lockdep_hardirqs_on+0x79/0x120
__x64_sys_read+0x43/0x50
do_syscall_64+0x3b/0xc0
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
RIP: 0033:0x7f0cdc819142
Code: c0 e9 c2 fe ff ff 50 48 8d 3d 3a ca 0a 00 e8 f5 19 02 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 56 c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24
RSP: 002b:00007fff28eee5b8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000000
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000020000 RCX: 00007f0cdc819142
RDX: 0000000000020000 RSI: 00007f0cdc032000 RDI: 0000000000000003
RBP: 00007f0cdc032000 R08: 00007f0cdc031010 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000022 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00005607e9ee31f0
R13: 0000000000000003 R14: 0000000000020000 R15: 0000000000020000

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database May 22, 2024
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 22, 2024
Last updated Sep 24, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(2nd percentile)

Weaknesses

Use of Uninitialized Resource

The product uses or accesses a resource that has not been initialized. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2021-47451

GHSA ID

GHSA-q6h5-3vm3-9h46

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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