Kernel crash via unchecked UDF buffer allocation
Published May 21, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel UDF driver allows local users to crash the system when creating a symbolic link. The udf_symlink function dereferences epos.bh without checking whether udf_tgetblk returned NULL after sb_getblk failed. Reachability requires local access to create a symbolic link on a mounted writable UDF filesystem and the allocation failure; the reported consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel UDF driver allows local users to crash the system when creating a symbolic link. The udf_symlink function dereferences epos.bh without checking whether udf_tgetblk returned NULL after sb_getblk failed. Reachability requires local access to create a symbolic link on a mounted writable UDF filesystem and the allocation failure; the reported consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47353
- Published
- May 21, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 21, 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
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <21bf1414580c36ffc8d8de043beb3508cf812238
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <2f3d9ddd32a28803baa547e6274983b67d5e287c
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <3638705ecd5ad2785e996f820121c0ad15ce64b5
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <371566f63cbd0bb6fbb25b8fe9d5798268d35af9
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <5150877e4d99f85057a458daac7cd7c01005d5c6
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <80d505aee6398cf8beb72475c7edcf1733c1c68b
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <aebed6b19e51a34003d998da5ebb1dfdd2cb1d02
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <baea588a42d675e35daeaddd10fbc9700550bc4d
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <fa236c2b2d4436d9f19ee4e5d5924e90ffd7bb43
- Affected versionversion=2.6.12
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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