CVE-2021-47460

MEDIUMCVSS 5.5/10EPSS 0.21%

Last modified

CVE-2021-47460 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.5/10 on the CVSS scale. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: fix data corruption after conversion from inline format Commit 6dbf7bb55598 ("fs: Don't invalidate page buffers in block_write_full_page()") uncovered a latent bug in ocfs2 conversion from inline inode format to a normal inode format. The code in ocfs2_convert_inline_data_to_extents() attempts to zero out the whole cluster allocated for file data by grabbing, zeroing, and dirtying all pages covering this cluster. However these pages are beyond i_size, thus writeback code generally ignores these dirty pages and no blocks were ever actually zeroed on the disk. This oversight was fixed by commit 693c241a5f6a ("ocfs2: No need to zero pages past i_size.") for standard ocfs2 write path, inline conversion path was apparently forgotten; the commit log also has a reasoning why the zeroing actually is not needed. After commit 6dbf7bb55598, things became worse as writeback code stopped invalidating buffers on pages beyond i_size and thus these pages end up with clean PageDirty bit but with buffers attached to these pages being still dirty. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: fix data corruption after conversion from inline format Commit 6dbf7bb55598 ("fs: Don't invalidate page buffers in block_write_full_page()") uncovered a latent bug in ocfs2 conversion from inline inode format to a normal inode format. The code in ocfs2_convert_inline_data_to_extents() attempts to zero out the whole cluster allocated for file data by grabbing, zeroing, and dirtying all pages covering this cluster. However these pages are beyond i_size, thus writeback code generally ignores these dirty pages and no blocks were ever actually zeroed on the disk. This oversight was fixed by commit 693c241a5f6a ("ocfs2: No need to zero pages past i_size.") for standard ocfs2 write path, inline conversion path was apparently forgotten; the commit log also has a reasoning why the zeroing actually is not needed. After commit 6dbf7bb55598, things became worse as writeback code stopped invalidating buffers on pages beyond i_size and thus these pages end up with clean PageDirty bit but with buffers attached to these pages being still dirty. So when a file is converted from inline format, then writeback triggers, and then the file is grown so that these pages become valid, the invalid dirtiness state is preserved, mark_buffer_dirty() does nothing on these pages (buffers are already dirty) but page is never written back because it is clean. So data written to these pages is lost once pages are reclaimed. Simple reproducer for the problem is: xfs_io -f -c "pwrite 0 2000" -c "pwrite 2000 2000" -c "fsync" \ -c "pwrite 4000 2000" ocfs2_file After unmounting and mounting the fs again, you can observe that end of 'ocfs2_file' has lost its contents. Fix the problem by not doing the pointless zeroing during conversion from inline format similarly as in the standard write path. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix whitespace, per Joseph]

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
5.5/10

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

EPSS Probability
0.21%

11.3th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Affected Software

VendorProductVersionsUpdate
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 4.9.242, < 4.9.288
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 4.14.204, < 4.14.253
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 4.19.155, < 4.19.214
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 5.4.75, < 5.4.156
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 5.9.5, < 5.10.76
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 5.11, < 5.14.15
LinuxLinux Kernel5.15Rc1

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Analyzed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-47460?
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: fix data corruption after conversion from inline format Commit 6dbf7bb55598 ("fs: Don't invalidate page buffers in block_write_full_page()") uncovered a latent bug in ocfs2 conversion from inline inode format to a normal inode format. The code in ocfs2_convert_inline_data_to_extents() attempts to zero out the whole cluster allocated for file data by grabbing, zeroing, and dirtying all pages covering this cluster. However these pages are beyond i_size, thus writeback code generally ignores these dirty pages and no blocks were ever actually zeroed on the disk. This oversight was fixed by commit 693c241a5f6a ("ocfs2: No need to zero pages past i_size.") for standard ocfs2 write path, inline conversion path was apparently forgotten; the commit log also has a reasoning why the zeroing actually is not needed. After commit 6dbf7bb55598, things became worse as writeback code stopped invalidating buffers on pages beyond i_size and thus these pages end up with clean PageDirty bit but with buffers attached to these pages being still dirty. So when a file is converted from inline format, then writeback triggers, and then the file is grown so that these pages become valid, the invalid dirtiness state is preserved, mark_buffer_dirty() does nothing on these pages (buffers are already dirty) but page is never written back because it is clean. So data written to these pages is lost once pages are reclaimed. Simple reproducer for the problem is: xfs_io -f -c "pwrite 0 2000" -c "pwrite 2000 2000" -c "fsync" \ -c "pwrite 4000 2000" ocfs2_file After unmounting and mounting the fs again, you can observe that end of 'ocfs2_file' has lost its contents. Fix the problem by not doing the pointless zeroing during conversion from inline format similarly as in the standard write path. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix whitespace, per Joseph]
How severe is CVE-2021-47460?
CVE-2021-47460 has a CVSS score of 5.5/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.21% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2021-47460?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

Are you affected by CVE-2021-47460?

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Source: NVD / NIST