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Unscored CVE-2021-47546 EUVD-2021-34548

ipv6: fix memory leak in fib6_rule_suppress

Published May 24, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws 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-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-fips 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-5.4 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-azure-fips Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips 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-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop 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-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-kvm 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-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime 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 Package: linux-vmware Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

ipv6: fix memory leak in fib6_rule_suppress

The kernel leaks memory when a `fib` rule is present in IPv6 nftables
firewall rules and a suppress_prefix rule is present in the IPv6 routing
rules (used by certain tools such as wg-quick). In such scenarios, every
incoming packet will leak an allocation in `ip6_dst_cache` slab cache.

After some hours of `bpftrace`-ing and source code reading, I tracked
down the issue to ca7a03c41753 ("ipv6: do not free rt if
FIB_LOOKUP_NOREF is set on suppress rule").

The problem with that change is that the generic `args->flags` always have
`FIB_LOOKUP_NOREF` set[1][2] but the IPv6-specific flag
`RT6_LOOKUP_F_DST_NOREF` might not be, leading to `fib6_rule_suppress` not
decreasing the refcount when needed.

How to reproduce:
- Add the following nftables rule to a prerouting chain:
meta nfproto ipv6 fib saddr . mark . iif oif missing drop
This can be done with:
sudo nft create table inet test
sudo nft create chain inet test test_chain '{ type filter hook prerouting priority filter + 10; policy accept; }'
sudo nft add rule inet test test_chain meta nfproto ipv6 fib saddr . mark . iif oif missing drop
- Run:
sudo ip -6 rule add table main suppress_prefixlength 0
- Watch `sudo slabtop -o | grep ip6_dst_cache` to see memory usage increase
with every incoming ipv6 packet.

This patch exposes the protocol-specific flags to the protocol
specific `suppress` function, and check the protocol-specific `flags`
argument for RT6_LOOKUP_F_DST_NOREF instead of the generic
FIB_LOOKUP_NOREF when decreasing the refcount, like this.

[1]: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/ca7a03c4175366a92cee0ccc4fec0038c3266e26/net/ipv6/fib6_rules.c#L71
[2]: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/ca7a03c4175366a92cee0ccc4fec0038c3266e26/net/ipv6/fib6_rules.c#L99

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.2.19 – < 5.3, 5.3.4 – < 5.4, 5.4 5.3

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 5.15.15-1 —
Debian 13 linux 5.15.15-1 —
Debian 12 linux 5.15.15-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +22 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux 5.4.0-100.113 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-aws 5.4.0-1066.69 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-azure 5.4.0-1070.73 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.4.0-1028.31 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.4.0-1065.69 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +26 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.4.0-1034.35 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-ibm 5.4.0-1015.16 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-kvm 5.4.0-1056.58 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.4.0-1064.68 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-raspi 5.4.0-1053.60 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-aws-5.4 5.4.0-1066.69~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-azure-5.4 5.4.0-1070.73~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.4 5.4.0-1065.69~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.4 5.4.0-100.113~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-ibm-5.4 5.4.0-1015.16~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.4 5.4.0-1064.68~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-raspi-5.4 5.4.0-1053.60~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 5.4.0-1069.73+fips2 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 5.4.0-1073.76+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips 5.4.0-1043.49 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 5.4.0-1067.71~20.04.1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-64kb +5 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-azure +2 5.14.21-150500.33.63.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3190-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2947-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1.150500.6.33.8 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
SLES 15 SP5 kernel-docs 5.14.21-150500.55.73.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1.150500.6.33.8 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
SLE Micro 5.5 kernel-rt +1 5.14.21-150500.13.64.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2894-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_17 +1 1-150500.11.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2894-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_19 +1 1-150500.11.3.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-rt +3 5.14.21-150500.13.64.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2894-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.5 dtb-aarch64 +9 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-azure +2 5.14.21-150500.33.63.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3190-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2947-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1.150500.6.33.8 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-docs 5.14.21-150500.55.73.2 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
openSUSE Leap 15.5 kernel-rt +3 5.14.21-150500.13.64.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2894-1
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-default 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 5.14.21-150500.55.73.1.150500.6.33.8 SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 kernel-rt 5.14.21-150500.13.64.1 SUSE-SU-2024:3209-1, SUSE-SU-2024:2894-1

Advisories 7

References