CVE-2021-47072

MEDIUMNVD 5.55.5
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2024-03-02. NVD baseline CVSS 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
5.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: None knownExposed: 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:

btrfs: fix removed dentries still existing after log is synced

When we move one inode from one directory to another and both the inode and its previous parent directory were logged before, we are not supposed to have the dentry for the old parent if we have a power failure after the log is synced. Only the new dentry is supposed to exist.

Generally this works correctly, however there is a scenario where this is not currently working, because the old parent of the file/directory that was moved is not authoritative for a range that includes the dir index and dir item keys of the old dentry. This case is better explained with the following example and reproducer:

# The test requires a very specific layout of keys and items in the # fs/subvolume btree to trigger the bug. So we want to make sure that # on whatever platform we are, we have the same leaf/node size. # # Currently in btrfs the node/leaf size can not be smaller than the page # size (but it can be greater than the page size). So use the largest # supported node/leaf size (64K).

$ mkfs.btrfs -f -n 65536 /dev/sdc $ mount /dev/sdc /mnt

# "testdir" is inode 257. $ mkdir /mnt/testdir $ chmod 755 /mnt/testdir

# Create several empty files to have the directory "testdir" with its # items spread over several leaves (7 in this case). $ for ((i = 1; i <= 1200; i++)); do echo -n > /mnt/testdir/file$i done

# Create our test directory "dira", inode number 1458, which gets all # its items in leaf 7. # # The BTRFS_DIR_ITEM_KEY item for inode 257 ("testdir") that points to # the entry named "dira" is in leaf 2, while the BTRFS_DIR_INDEX_KEY # item that points to that entry is in leaf 3. # # For this particular filesystem node size (64K), file count and file # names, we endup with the directory entry items from inode 257 in # leaves 2 and 3, as previously mentioned - what matters for triggering # the bug exercised by this test case is that those items are not placed # in leaf 1, they must be placed in a leaf different from the one # containing the inode item for inode 257. # # The corresponding BTRFS_DIR_ITEM_KEY and BTRFS_DIR_INDEX_KEY items for # the parent inode (257) are the following: # # item 460 key (257 DIR_ITEM 3724298081) itemoff 48344 itemsize 34 # location key (1458 INODE_ITEM 0) type DIR # transid 6 data_len 0 name_len 4 # name: dira # # and: # # item 771 key (257 DIR_INDEX 1202) itemoff 36673 itemsize 34 # location key (1458 INODE_ITEM 0) type DIR # transid 6 data_len 0 name_len 4 # name: dira

$ mkdir /mnt/testdir/dira

# Make sure everything done so far is durably persisted. $ sync

# Now do a change to inode 257 ("testdir") that does not result in # COWing leaves 2 and 3 - the leaves that contain the directory items # pointing to inode 1458 (directory "dira"). # # Changing permissions, the owner/group, updating or adding a xattr, # etc, will not change (COW) leaves 2 and 3. So for the sake of # simplicity change the permissions of inode 257, which results in # updating its inode item and therefore change (COW) only leaf 1.

$ chmod 700 /mnt/testdir

# Now fsync directory inode 257. # # Since only the first leaf was changed/COWed, we log the inode item of # inode 257 and only the dentries found in the first leaf, all have a # key type of BTRFS_DIR_ITEM_KEY, and no keys of type # BTRFS_DIR_INDEX_KEY, because they sort after the former type and none # exist in the first leaf. # # We also log 3 items that represent ranges for dir items and dir # indexes for which the log is authoritative: # # 1) a key of type BTRFS_DIR_LOG_ITEM_KEY, which indicates the log is # authoritative for all BTRFS_DIR_ITEM_KEY keys that have an offset # in the range [0, 2285968570] (the offset here is th ---truncated---

CVSS v3
5.5
EG Score
5.5(medium)
EG Risk
25(Track)
EG Risk 25/100SSVC: 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
Severity55% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
9%
KEV
Not listed

Published

March 1, 2024

Last Modified

January 9, 2025

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 35× 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 108 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-08-07 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-47072?
CVE-2021-47072 is a medium vulnerability published on March 1, 2024. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix removed dentries still existing after log is synced When we move one inode from one directory to another and both the inode and its previous parent directory were logged before, we are not supposed to have the dentry for…
When was CVE-2021-47072 disclosed?
CVE-2021-47072 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on March 1, 2024, with the most recent update on January 9, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-47072 actively exploited?
CVE-2021-47072 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 90.8% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-47072?
CVE-2021-47072 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2021-47072?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-47072, 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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