Kernel crash via stale scatter-gather pointer
Published Mar 25, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in affected Linux kernel branches beginning with 4.2 allows local users to crash the kernel through an AMDGPU allocation ioctl. The amdgpu_ttm_backend_unbind function frees the scatter-gather table but leaves ttm->sg pointing at freed memory, so later cleanup frees the stale table again. The path requires local access to the AMDGPU KFD memory-allocation ioctl on a supported AMD GPU; triggering it causes a kernel panic and host service interruption.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in affected Linux kernel branches beginning with 4.2 allows local users to crash the kernel through an AMDGPU allocation ioctl. The amdgpu_ttm_backend_unbind function frees the scatter-gather table but leaves ttm->sg pointing at freed memory, so later cleanup frees the stale table again. The path requires local access to the AMDGPU KFD memory-allocation ioctl on a supported AMD GPU; triggering it causes a kernel panic and host service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47142
- Published
- Mar 25, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 25, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.2
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <0707c3fea8102d211631ba515ef2159707561b0d
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <1e5c37385097c35911b0f8a0c67ffd10ee1af9a2
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <3293cf3513d69f00c14d43e2020826d45ea0e46a
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <7398c2aab4da960761ec182d04d6d5abbb4a226e
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <952ab3f9f48eb0e8050596d41951cf516be6b122
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <a849e218556f932576c0fb1c5a88714b61709a17
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <d4ea141fd4b40636a8326df5a377d9c5cf9b3faa
- Affected versionversion=d38ceaf99ed015f2a0b9af3499791bd3a3daae21 <f98cdf084405333ee2f5be548a91b2d168e49276
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
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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