CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-46964 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: qla2xxx: Reserve extra IRQ vectors Commit a6dcfe08487e ("scsi: qla2xxx: Limit interrupt vectors to number of CPUs") lowers the number of allocated MSI-X vectors to the number of CPUs. That breaks vector allocation assumptions in qla83xx_iospace_config(), qla24xx_enable_msix() and qla2x00_iospace_config(). Either of the functions computes maximum number of qpairs as: ha->max_qpairs = ha->msix_count - 1 (MB interrupt) - 1 (default response queue) - 1 (ATIO, in dual or pure target mode) max_qpairs is set to zero in case of two CPUs and initiator mode. The number is then used to allocate ha->queue_pair_map inside qla2x00_alloc_queues(). No allocation happens and ha->queue_pair_map is left NULL but the driver thinks there are queue pairs available. qla2xxx_queuecommand() tries to find a qpair in the map and crashes: if (ha->mqenable) { uint32_t tag; uint16_t hwq; struct qla_qpair *qpair = NULL; tag = blk_mq_unique_tag(cmd->request); hwq = blk_mq_unique_tag_to_hwq(tag); qpair = ha->queue_pair_map[hwq]; # <- HERE if (qpair) return qla2xxx_mqueuecommand(host, cmd, qpair); } BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, addr…

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2024-02-27
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-476

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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