CVE-2021-47044

HighCVSS 7.7/10Last modified Jun 17, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/fair: Fix shift-out-of-bounds in load_balance()

Syzbot reported a handful of occurrences where an sd->nr_balance_failed can grow to much higher values than one would expect.

A successful load_balance() resets it to 0; a failed one increments it. Once it gets to sd->cache_nice_tries + 3, this *should* trigger an active balance, which will either set it to sd->cache_nice_tries+1 or reset it to 0. However, in case the to-be-active-balanced task is not allowed to run on env->dst_cpu, then the increment is done without any further modification.

This could then be repeated ad nauseam, and would explain the absurdly high values reported by syzbot (86, 149). VincentG noted there is value in letting sd->cache_nice_tries grow, so the shift itself should be fixed. That means preventing:

""" If the value of the right operand is negative or is greater than or equal to the width of the promoted left operand, the behavior is undefined. """

Thus we need to cap the shift exponent to BITS_PER_TYPE(typeof(lefthand)) - 1.

I had a look around for other similar cases via coccinelle:

@expr@ position pos; expression E1; expression E2; @@ ( E1 >> E2@pos | E1 >> E2@pos )

@cst depends on expr@ position pos; expression expr.E1; constant cst; @@ ( E1 >> cst@pos | E1 << cst@pos )

@script:python depends on !cst@ pos << expr.pos; exp << expr.E2; @@ # Dirty hack to ignore constexpr if exp.upper() != exp: coccilib.report.print_report(pos[0], "Possible UB shift here")

The only other match in kernel/sched is rq_clock_thermal() which employs sched_thermal_decay_shift, and that exponent is already capped to 10, so that one is fine.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1 7.7/10CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Weakness enumeration

Affected software

No affected versions have been published.

Timeline

Published
Feb 28, 2024
Last modified
Jun 17, 2026
NVD status
Analyzed

Related CVEs from 2021

CVE-2021-470455.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: lpfc: Fix null pointer dereference in lpfc_prep_els_iocb() It isCVE-2021-470467.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/amd/display: Fix off by one in hdmi_14_process_transaction() The hCVE-2021-470475.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: spi-zynqmp-gqspi: return -ENOMEM if dma_map_single fails The spi CVE-2021-470487.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: spi-zynqmp-gqspi: fix use-after-free in zynqmp_qspi_exec_op When CVE-2021-470497.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Drivers: hv: vmbus: Use after free in __vmbus_open() The "open_info" vCVE-2021-470505.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: memory: renesas-rpc-if: fix possible NULL pointer dereference of resourCVE-2021-470515.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: fsl-lpspi: Fix PM reference leak in lpspi_prepare_xfer_hardware() CVE-2021-470525.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: sa2ul - Fix memory leak of rxd There are two error return pathCVE-2021-470535.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: sun8i-ss - Fix memory leak of pad It appears there are severalCVE-2021-470545.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bus: qcom: Put child node before return Put child node before return tCVE-2021-470555.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mtd: require write permissions for locking and badblock ioctls MEMLOCKCVE-2021-470565.5In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: qat - ADF_STATUS_PF_RUNNING should be set after adf_dev_init A
CVE-2021-47044: High severity, CVSS 7.7 | Vulnix