CVE-2021-47408: netfilter: conntrack: serialize hash resizes and cleanups
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: conntrack: serialize hash resizes and cleanups
Syzbot was able to trigger the following warning [1]
No repro found by syzbot yet but I was able to trigger similar issue
by having 2 scripts running in parallel, changing conntrack hash sizes,
and:
for j in `seq 1 1000` ; do unshare -n /bin/true >/dev/null ; done
It would take more than 5 minutes for net_namespace structures
to be cleaned up.
This is because nf_ct_iterate_cleanup() has to restart everytime
a resize happened.
By adding a mutex, we can serialize hash resizes and cleanups
and also make get_next_corpse() faster by skipping over empty
buckets.
Even without resizes in the picture, this patch considerably
speeds up network namespace dismantles.
[1]
INFO: task syz-executor.0:8312 can't die for more than 144 seconds.
task:syz-executor.0 state:R running task stack:25672 pid: 8312 ppid: 6573 flags:0x00004006
Call Trace:
context_switch kernel/sched/core.c:4955 [inline]
__schedule+0x940/0x26f0 kernel/sched/core.c:6236
preempt_schedule_common+0x45/0xc0 kernel/sched/core.c:6408
preempt_schedule_thunk+0x16/0x18 arch/x86/entry/thunk_64.S:35
__local_bh_enable_ip+0x109/0x120 kernel/softirq.c:390
local_bh_enable include/linux/bottom_half.h:32 [inline]
get_next_corpse net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2252 [inline]
nf_ct_iterate_cleanup+0x15a/0x450 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2275
nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list+0x14c/0x4f0 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_core.c:2469
ops_exit_list+0x10d/0x160 net/core/net_namespace.c:171
setup_net+0x639/0xa30 net/core/net_namespace.c:349
copy_net_ns+0x319/0x760 net/core/net_namespace.c:470
create_new_namespaces+0x3f6/0xb20 kernel/nsproxy.c:110
unshare_nsproxy_namespaces+0xc1/0x1f0 kernel/nsproxy.c:226
ksys_unshare+0x445/0x920 kernel/fork.c:3128
__do_sys_unshare kernel/fork.c:3202 [inline]
__se_sys_unshare kernel/fork.c:3200 [inline]
__x64_sys_unshare+0x2d/0x40 kernel/fork.c:3200
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
RIP: 0033:0x7f63da68e739
RSP: 002b:00007f63d7c05188 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000110
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f63da792f80 RCX: 00007f63da68e739
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000040000000
RBP: 00007f63da6e8cc4 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f63da792f80
R13: 00007fff50b75d3f R14: 00007f63d7c05300 R15: 0000000000022000
Showing all locks held in the system:
1 lock held by khungtaskd/27:
#0: ffffffff8b980020 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:2}, at: debug_show_all_locks+0x53/0x260 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:6446
2 locks held by kworker/u4:2/153:
#0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: arch_atomic64_set arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_64.h:34 [inline]
#0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: arch_atomic_long_set include/linux/atomic/atomic-long.h:41 [inline]
#0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: atomic_long_set include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:1198 [inline]
#0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: set_work_data kernel/workqueue.c:634 [inline]
#0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: set_work_pool_and_clear_pending kernel/workqueue.c:661 [inline]
#0: ffff888010c69138 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x896/0x1690 kernel/workqueue.c:2268
#1: ffffc9000140fdb0 ((kfence_timer).work){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x8ca/0x1690 kernel/workqueue.c:2272
1 lock held by systemd-udevd/2970:
1 lock held by in:imklog/6258:
#0: ffff88807f970ff0 (&f->f_pos_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __fdget_pos+0xe9/0x100 fs/file.c:990
3 locks held by kworker/1:6/8158:
1 lock held by syz-executor.0/8312:
2 locks held by kworker/u4:13/9320:
1 lock held by
---truncated---
Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-47408 is a Linux kernel availability flaw in netfilter connection tracking cleanup. A local user with privileges to trigger the relevant namespace and conntrack activity could cause long cleanup stalls or hung-task warnings, affecting host reliability rather than data confidentiality or integrity.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate availability risk. It is unlikely to justify emergency action without exposed multi-user or container workloads, but patch during normal kernel maintenance and prioritize shared Linux hosts where local users or workloads can create namespaces.
Technical view
The issue is in netfilter conntrack hash resize and cleanup concurrency. Cleanup could restart repeatedly when hash resizing happened in parallel, delaying network namespace teardown for minutes. The kernel fix serializes hash resizes and cleanups with a mutex and skips empty buckets during cleanup.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant on Linux systems running affected kernel builds with netfilter conntrack and network namespace use. Container hosts, CI systems, and multi-user Linux environments may have higher practical exposure. Confirm exact affected and fixed versions through the running distribution kernel advisory.
Exploitation context
The source describes syzbot-triggered hung-task behavior and a local high-complexity availability condition. CISA KEV status is false in the provided bundle, and no cited source confirms active exploitation. The CVSS vector is local, low privilege, no user interaction, availability impact high.
Researcher notes
The evidence points to a race or starvation condition during conntrack cleanup, not memory corruption or privilege escalation. The source bundle includes upstream fix references but no proof-of-concept reproduction from syzbot and no active exploitation claim. Validate using vendor backport data, not only upstream version numbers.
Mitigation direction
Apply vendor kernel updates containing the referenced upstream stable fixes.
Confirm distribution advisories for exact fixed kernel package versions.
Prioritize container hosts and systems allowing unprivileged namespace creation.
Where vendor-supported, reduce unnecessary unprivileged namespace access.
Monitor for hung-task warnings involving nf_conntrack cleanup.
Validation and detection
Inventory Linux kernel versions across affected server and container fleets.
Check whether netfilter conntrack is in use on exposed systems.
Verify installed kernels include the referenced stable commits or vendor backports.
Review logs for repeated network namespace teardown or hung-task warnings.
Confirm regression tests cover conntrack and namespace-dependent workloads after patching.
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Potential ATT&CK relevance
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