Local privilege escalation via A4xx GPU use-after-free
Published May 22, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 5.11 through 5.14.13 allows local users to gain kernel privileges through the MSM A4xx DRM device. The a4xx_gpu_init function stores the Boolean result of IS_ERR instead of the negative PTR_ERR value, frees the GPU object on failure, and then falsely reports successful initialization. An unprivileged user or Android app must be able to open the MSM DRM render node on an A4xx platform; later load or interrupt handling dereferences the dangling object, enabling kernel memory access, control-flow hijacking, or a kernel panic.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel 5.11 through 5.14.13 allows local users to gain kernel privileges through the MSM A4xx DRM device. The a4xx_gpu_init function stores the Boolean result of IS_ERR instead of the negative PTR_ERR value, frees the GPU object on failure, and then falsely reports successful initialization. An unprivileged user or Android app must be able to open the MSM DRM render node on an A4xx platform; later load or interrupt handling dereferences the dangling object, enabling kernel memory access, control-flow hijacking, or a kernel panic.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47446
- Published
- May 22, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-908, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 22, 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=5.11
- Affected versionversion=5785dd7a8ef0de8049f40a1a109de6a1bf17b479 <3962d626eb3e3b23ebb2e2a61537fa764acbfe11
- Affected versionversion=5785dd7a8ef0de8049f40a1a109de6a1bf17b479 <980d74e7d03ccf2eaa11d133416946bd880c7c08
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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