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High · 7.7 CVE-2021-47044 EUVD-2021-33692GHSA-8g29-7ww6-62wf

sched/fair: Fix shift-out-of-bounds in load_balance()

Published Feb 28, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

sched/fair: Fix shift-out-of-bounds in load_balance()

Syzbot reported a handful of occurrences where an sd->nr_balance_failed can
grow to much higher values than one would expect.

A successful load_balance() resets it to 0; a failed one increments
it. Once it gets to sd->cache_nice_tries + 3, this *should* trigger an
active balance, which will either set it to sd->cache_nice_tries+1 or reset
it to 0. However, in case the to-be-active-balanced task is not allowed to
run on env->dst_cpu, then the increment is done without any further
modification.

This could then be repeated ad nauseam, and would explain the absurdly high
values reported by syzbot (86, 149). VincentG noted there is value in
letting sd->cache_nice_tries grow, so the shift itself should be
fixed. That means preventing:

"""
If the value of the right operand is negative or is greater than or equal
to the width of the promoted left operand, the behavior is undefined.
"""

Thus we need to cap the shift exponent to
BITS_PER_TYPE(typeof(lefthand)) - 1.

I had a look around for other similar cases via coccinelle:

@expr@
position pos;
expression E1;
expression E2;
@@
(
E1 >> E2@pos
|
E1 >> E2@pos
)

@cst depends on expr@
position pos;
expression expr.E1;
constant cst;
@@
(
E1 >> cst@pos
|
E1 << cst@pos
)

@script:python depends on !cst@
pos << expr.pos;
exp << expr.E2;
@@
# Dirty hack to ignore constexpr
if exp.upper() != exp:
coccilib.report.print_report(pos[0], "Possible UB shift here")

The only other match in kernel/sched is rq_clock_thermal() which employs
sched_thermal_decay_shift, and that exponent is already capped to 10, so
that one is fine.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.10 5.10.37

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 5.10.38-1 —
Debian 13 linux 5.10.38-1 —
Debian 12 linux 5.10.38-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +19 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +26 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP3 kernel-64kb +7 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLES 15 SP3 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1.150300.18.92.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
Show 6 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 15 SP3 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1.150300.18.92.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP3 kernel-docs +5 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1.150300.18.92.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-rt +1 5.3.18-150300.166.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1465-1
SLE Micro 5.1 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE Micro 5.1 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1.150300.18.92.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE Micro 5.1 kernel-rt +1 5.3.18-150300.166.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1465-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP3 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP3 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP3_Update_43 1-150300.7.3.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE HPC 15 SP3 kernel-64kb +6 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SLE HPC 15 SP3 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1.150300.18.92.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 kernel-64kb +6 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1
SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.158.1.150300.18.92.5 SUSE-SU-2024:1489-1

Advisories 3

References