System hang via BPF-triggered SELinux audit deadlock
Published Mar 15, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper locking in the Linux kernel allows local users to hang affected systems through BPF tracing under SELinux lockdown. The selinux_lockdown hook audits security_locked_down calls from BPF helpers on their execution fast path, where slow_avc_audit can wake kauditd while the scheduler run-queue lock is already held and recursively acquire that lock. A user able to load an affected tracing program can trigger the deadlock or generate enough audit events for an out-of-memory kill; no confidentiality or integrity impact is reported.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in the Linux kernel allows local users to hang affected systems through BPF tracing under SELinux lockdown. The selinux_lockdown hook audits security_locked_down calls from BPF helpers on their execution fast path, where slow_avc_audit can wake kauditd while the scheduler run-queue lock is already held and recursively acquire that lock. A user able to load an affected tracing program can trigger the deadlock or generate enough audit events for an out-of-memory kill; no confidentiality or integrity impact is reported.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47128
- Published
- Mar 15, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 15, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.6
- Affected versionversion=59438b46471ae6cdfb761afc8c9beaf1e428a331 <acc43fc6cf0d50612193813c5906a1ab9d433e1e
- Affected versionversion=59438b46471ae6cdfb761afc8c9beaf1e428a331 <ff40e51043af63715ab413995ff46996ecf9583f
- Affected versionversion=59438b46471ae6cdfb761afc8c9beaf1e428a331 <ff5039ec75c83d2ed5b781dc7733420ee8c985fc
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo