CVE-2021-47242 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2021-47242
Vulnerability Scoring

7.8
/10
Very High Risk

Highly exploitable, CVE-2021-47242 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Local
    Vulnerability requires local system access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: Required
    User interaction is necessary for successful exploitation.

CVE-2021-47242 Details

Status: Awaiting Analysis

Last updated: 🕡 21 Nov 2024, 06:35 UTC
Originally published on: 🕒 21 May 2024, 15:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 183 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

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

CVE-2021-47242 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2021-47242: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: fix soft lookup in subflow_error_report() Maxim reported a soft lookup in subflow_error_report(): watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 22s! [swapper/0:0] RIP: 0010:native_queued_spin_lock_slowpath RSP: 0018:ffffa859c0003bc0 EFLAGS: 00000202 RAX: 0000000000000101 RBX: 0000000000000001 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: ffff9195c2772d88 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff9195c2772d88 RBP: ffff9195c2772d00 R08: 00000000000067b0 R09: c6e31da9eb1e44f4 R10: ffff9195ef379700 R11: ffff9195edb50710 R12: ffff9195c2772d88 R13: ffff9195f500e3d0 R14: ffff9195ef379700 R15: ffff9195ef379700 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff91961f400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000000c000407000 CR3: 0000000002988000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 Call Trace: <IRQ> _raw_spin_lock_bh subflow_error_report mptcp_subflow_data_available __mptcp_move_skbs_from_subflow mptcp_data_ready tcp_data_queue tcp_rcv_established tcp_v4_do_rcv tcp_v4_rcv ip_protocol_deliver_rcu ip_local_deliver_finish __netif_receive_skb_one_core netif_receive_skb rtl8139_poll 8139too __napi_poll net_rx_action __do_softirq __irq_exit_rcu common_interrupt </IRQ> The calling function - mptcp_subflow_data_available() - can be invoked from different contexts: - plain ssk socket lock - ssk socket lock + mptcp_data_lock - ssk socket lock + mptcp_data_lock + msk socket lock. Since subflow_error_report() tries to acquire the mptcp_data_lock, the latter two call chains will cause soft lookup. This change addresses the issue moving the error reporting call to outer functions, where the held locks list is known and the we can acquire only the needed one.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2021-47242

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2021-47242 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2021-47242

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2021-47242 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2021-47242, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2021-47242, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2021-47242 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2021-47242 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: High
    CVE-2021-47242 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.043% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 11.87% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 88.13% of others.

CVE-2021-47242 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-667

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Forced Deadlock CAPEC-25 The adversary triggers and exploits a deadlock condition in the target software to cause a denial of service. A deadlock can occur when two or more competing actions are waiting for each other to finish, and thus neither ever does. Deadlock conditions can be difficult to detect.
  • Leveraging Race Conditions CAPEC-26 The adversary targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently, and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The adversary can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance, a race condition can occur while accessing a file: the adversary can trick the system by replacing the original file with their version and cause the system to read the malicious file.
  • Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links CAPEC-27 This attack leverages the use of symbolic links (Symlinks) in order to write to sensitive files. An attacker can create a Symlink link to a target file not otherwise accessible to them. When the privileged program tries to create a temporary file with the same name as the Symlink link, it will actually write to the target file pointed to by the attackers' Symlink link. If the attacker can insert malicious content in the temporary file they will be writing to the sensitive file by using the Symlink. The race occurs because the system checks if the temporary file exists, then creates the file. The attacker would typically create the Symlink during the interval between the check and the creation of the temporary file.

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