CVE-2021-46969: linux kernel Use-After-Free — Fix

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bus: mhi: core: Fix invalid error returning in mhi_queue mhi_queue returns an error when the doorbell is not accessible in the current state. This can happen when the device is in non M0 state, like M3, and needs to be waken-up prior ringing the DB. This case is managed earlier by triggering an asynchronous M3 exit via controller resume/suspend callbacks, that in turn will cause M0 transition and DB update. So, since it's not an error but just delaying of doorbell update, there is no reason to return an error. This also fixes a use after free error for skb case, indeed a caller queuing skb will try to free the skb if the queueing fails, but in that case queueing has been done.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2021-46969?

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

CVSS v3.1 Score

7.8

HIGH

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

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-416 Use After Free

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
linux	linux_kernel	5.12 — 5.12.3

References

Advisories & Patches

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ecc1c70dcd32c0f081b173a1a5d89952686f271 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a99b661c3187365f81026d89b1133a76cd2652b3 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ecc1c70dcd32c0f081b173a1a5d89952686f271 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a99b661c3187365f81026d89b1133a76cd2652b3

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-46969? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bus: mhi: core: Fix invalid error returning in mhi_queue mhi_queue returns an error when the doorbell is not accessible in the current state. This can happen when the device is in non M0 state, like M3, and needs to be waken-up prior ringing the DB. This case is managed earlier by triggering an asynchronous M3 exit via controller resume/suspend callbacks, that in turn will cause M0 transition and DB update. So, since it's not an error but just delaying of doorbell update, there is no reason to return an error. This also fixes a use after free error for skb case, indeed a caller queuing skb will try to free the skb if the queueing fails, but in that case queueing has been done. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2021-46969? +

CVE-2021-46969 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching.

What products are affected by CVE-2021-46969? +

CVE-2021-46969 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-2021-46969? +

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-2026-55406

Buffa is a pure-Rust Protocol Buffers implementation with first-class protobuf editions support. Prior to 0.7.0, a soundness bug in the …

CVE-2026-6040

A heap use-after-free existed when importing the blank-width characters of an ODF number format. A position value read from the …

CVE-2025-24898

rust-openssl is a set of OpenSSL bindings for the Rust programming language. In affected versions `ssl::select_next_proto` can return a slice …

CVE-2025-31115

XZ Utils provide a general-purpose data-compression library plus command-line tools. In XZ Utils 5.3.3alpha to 5.8.0, the multithreaded .xz decoder …

CVE-2025-31498

c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. From 1.32.3 through 1.34.4, there is a use-after-free in read_answers() when process_answer() may re-enqueue …

CVE-2025-4516

There is an issue in CPython when using `bytes.decode("unicode_escape", error="ignore|replace")`. If you are not using the "unicode_escape" encoding or an …

CVE-2021-46969