CVE-2021-46938

HIGHNVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2024-02-27. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
7.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

dm rq: fix double free of blk_mq_tag_set in dev remove after table load fails

When loading a device-mapper table for a request-based mapped device, and the allocation/initialization of the blk_mq_tag_set for the device fails, a following device remove will cause a double free.

E.g. (dmesg): device-mapper: core: Cannot initialize queue for request-based dm-mq mapped device device-mapper: ioctl: unable to set up device queue for new table. Unable to handle kernel pointer dereference in virtual kernel address space Failing address: 0305e098835de000 TEID: 0305e098835de803 Fault in home space mode while using kernel ASCE. AS:000000025efe0007 R3:0000000000000024 Oops: 0038 ilc:3 [#1] SMP Modules linked in: ... lots of modules ... Supported: Yes, External CPU: 0 PID: 7348 Comm: multipathd Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W X 5.3.18-53-default #1 SLE15-SP3 Hardware name: IBM 8561 T01 7I2 (LPAR) Krnl PSW : 0704e00180000000 000000025e368eca (kfree+0x42/0x330) R:0 T:1 IO:1 EX:1 Key:0 M:1 W:0 P:0 AS:3 CC:2 PM:0 RI:0 EA:3 Krnl GPRS: 000000000000004a 000000025efe5230 c1773200d779968d 0000000000000000 000000025e520270 000000025e8d1b40 0000000000000003 00000007aae10000 000000025e5202a2 0000000000000001 c1773200d779968d 0305e098835de640 00000007a8170000 000003ff80138650 000000025e5202a2 000003e00396faa8 Krnl Code: 000000025e368eb8: c4180041e100 lgrl %r1,25eba50b8 000000025e368ebe: ecba06b93a55 risbg %r11,%r10,6,185,58 #000000025e368ec4: e3b010000008 ag %r11,0(%r1) >000000025e368eca: e310b0080004 lg %r1,8(%r11) 000000025e368ed0: a7110001 tmll %r1,1 000000025e368ed4: a7740129 brc 7,25e369126 000000025e368ed8: e320b0080004 lg %r2,8(%r11) 000000025e368ede: b904001b lgr %r1,%r11 Call Trace: [<000000025e368eca>] kfree+0x42/0x330 [<000000025e5202a2>] blk_mq_free_tag_set+0x72/0xb8 [<000003ff801316a8>] dm_mq_cleanup_mapped_device+0x38/0x50 [dm_mod] [<000003ff80120082>] free_dev+0x52/0xd0 [dm_mod] [<000003ff801233f0>] __dm_destroy+0x150/0x1d0 [dm_mod] [<000003ff8012bb9a>] dev_remove+0x162/0x1c0 [dm_mod] [<000003ff8012a988>] ctl_ioctl+0x198/0x478 [dm_mod] [<000003ff8012ac8a>] dm_ctl_ioctl+0x22/0x38 [dm_mod] [<000000025e3b11ee>] ksys_ioctl+0xbe/0xe0 [<000000025e3b127a>] __s390x_sys_ioctl+0x2a/0x40 [<000000025e8c15ac>] system_call+0xd8/0x2c8 Last Breaking-Event-Address: [<000000025e52029c>] blk_mq_free_tag_set+0x6c/0xb8 Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception: panic_on_oops

When allocation/initialization of the blk_mq_tag_set fails in dm_mq_init_request_queue(), it is uninitialized/freed, but the pointer is not reset to NULL; so when dev_remove() later gets into dm_mq_cleanup_mapped_device() it sees the pointer and tries to uninitialize and free it again.

Fix this by setting the pointer to NULL in dm_mq_init_request_queue() error-handling. Also set it to NULL in dm_mq_cleanup_mapped_device().

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(medium)
EG Risk
35(Track)
EG Risk 35/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS
16.2%
KEV
Not listed

Published

February 27, 2024

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (16)

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 13× in last 7d / 51× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 102 total refreshes for this CVE.

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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-46938?
CVE-2021-46938 is a high vulnerability published on February 27, 2024. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm rq: fix double free of blkmqtag_set in dev remove after table load fails When loading a device-mapper table for a request-based mapped device, and the allocation/initialization of the blkmqtag_set for the device fails, a…
When was CVE-2021-46938 disclosed?
CVE-2021-46938 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on February 27, 2024, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-46938 actively exploited?
CVE-2021-46938 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 16.2% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-46938?
CVE-2021-46938 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2021-46938?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-46938, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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