CVE-2021-46956: linux kernel — Fix

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtiofs: fix memory leak in virtio_fs_probe() When accidentally passing twice the same tag to qemu, kmemleak ended up reporting a memory leak in virtiofs. Also, looking at the log I saw the following error (that's when I realised the duplicated tag): virtiofs: probe of virtio5 failed with error -17 Here's the kmemleak log for reference: unreferenced object 0xffff888103d47800 (size 1024): comm "systemd-udevd", pid 118, jiffies 4294893780 (age 18.340s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 ad 4e ad de ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 .....N.......... ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 80 90 02 a0 ff ff ff ff ................ backtrace: [<000000000ebb87c1>] virtio_fs_probe+0x171/0x7ae [virtiofs] [<00000000f8aca419>] virtio_dev_probe+0x15f/0x210 [<000000004d6baf3c>] really_probe+0xea/0x430 [<00000000a6ceeac8>] device_driver_attach+0xa8/0xb0 [<00000000196f47a7>] __driver_attach+0x98/0x140 [<000000000b20601d>] bus_for_each_dev+0x7b/0xc0 [<00000000399c7b7f>] bus_add_driver+0x11b/0x1f0 [<0000000032b09ba7>] driver_register+0x8f/0xe0 [<00000000cdd55998>] 0xffffffffa002c013 [<000000000ea196a2>] do_one_initcall+0x64/0x2e0 [<0000000008f727ce>] do_init_module+0x5c/0x260 [<000000003cdedab6>] __do_sys_finit_module+0xb5/0x120 [<00000000ad2f48c6>] do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 [<00000000809526b5>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Is your site exposed to CVE-2021-46956?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-401 CWE-401

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
linux	linux_kernel	5.4 — 5.4.118
linux	linux_kernel	5.5 — 5.10.36
linux	linux_kernel	5.11 — 5.11.20
linux	linux_kernel	5.12 — 5.12.3

References

Advisories & Patches

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-46956? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtiofs: fix memory leak in virtio_fs_probe() When accidentally passing twice the same tag to qemu, kmemleak ended up reporting a memory leak in virtiofs. Also, looking at the log I saw the following error (that's when I realised the duplicated tag): virtiofs: probe of virtio5 failed with error -17 Here's the kmemleak log for reference: unreferenced object 0xffff888103d47800 (size 1024): comm "systemd-udevd", pid 118, jiffies 4294893780 (age 18.340s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 ad 4e ad de ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 .....N.......... ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 80 90 02 a0 ff ff ff ff ................ backtrace: [<000000000ebb87c1>] virtio_fs_probe+0x171/0x7ae [virtiofs] [<00000000f8aca419>] virtio_dev_probe+0x15f/0x210 [<000000004d6baf3c>] really_probe+0xea/0x430 [<00000000a6ceeac8>] device_driver_attach+0xa8/0xb0 [<00000000196f47a7>] __driver_attach+0x98/0x140 [<000000000b20601d>] bus_for_each_dev+0x7b/0xc0 [<00000000399c7b7f>] bus_add_driver+0x11b/0x1f0 [<0000000032b09ba7>] driver_register+0x8f/0xe0 [<00000000cdd55998>] 0xffffffffa002c013 [<000000000ea196a2>] do_one_initcall+0x64/0x2e0 [<0000000008f727ce>] do_init_module+0x5c/0x260 [<000000003cdedab6>] __do_sys_finit_module+0xb5/0x120 [<00000000ad2f48c6>] do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 [<00000000809526b5>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2021-46956? +

CVE-2021-46956 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2021-46956? +

CVE-2021-46956 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2021-46956? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-0646

A denial-of-service security issue exists within the 1794-AENTR adapter due to improper memory handling of CIP protocol requests. This vulnerability …

CVE-2026-20746

Virtual attribute handling in Ping Identity PingDirectory in affected versions allows only authorized users to exhaust java memory heap when …

CVE-2026-53429

Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in leandrocp mdex and mdex_native allows an attacker who controls a rendered …

CVE-2024-25450 8.8

imlib2 v1.9.1 was discovered to mishandle memory allocation in the function init_imlib_fonts().

CVE-2025-20133 8.6

A vulnerability in the management and VPN web servers of the Remote Access SSL VPN feature of Cisco Secure Firewall …

CVE-2025-20239 8.6

A vulnerability in the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) feature of Cisco IOS Software, IOS XE Software, Secure Firewall …

CVE-2021-46956