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UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46990 Moderate

UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46990

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/64s: Fix crashes when toggling entry flush barrier The entry flush mitigation can be enabled/disabled at runtime via a debugfs file (entry_flush), which causes the kernel to patch itself to enable/disable the relevant mitigations. However depending on which mitigation we're using, it may not be safe to do that patching while other CPUs are active. For example the following crash: sleeper[15639]: segfault (11) at c000000000004c20 nip c000000000004c20 lr c000000000004c20 Shows that we returned to userspace with a corrupted LR that points into the kernel, due to executing the partially patched call to the fallback entry flush (ie. we missed the LR restore). Fix it by doing the patching under stop machine. The CPUs that aren't doing the patching will be spinning in the core of the stop machine logic. That is currently sufficient for our purposes, because none of the patching we do is to that code or anywhere in the vicinity.

Exploit probability Not scored
Published February 28, 2024
Required by Not available
Last source change August 17, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oem

50 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws-5.0

6 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.11

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-raspi2

6 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS-updates:20.04:LTS linux-fips

2 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-5.19

7 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws

67 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-kvm

28 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle

47 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS-updates:18.04:LTS linux-azure-fips

20 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.14

35 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gke-5.15

18 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux

77 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.13

13 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.8

4 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-hwe-edge

23 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-kvm

95 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:24.04:LTS linux-raspi-realtime

1 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.8

21 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.13

16 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.0

7 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.11

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-intel-iot-realtime

1 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-intel-5.13

7 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.13

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp

30 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux

38 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.11

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure

30 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-4.15

22 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux

161 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gke-5.4

37 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS linux-aws

94 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-fde-6.2

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.10

26 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.13

13 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.6

29 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.3

13 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-kvm

61 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws

33 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gke-4.15

33 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv

23 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws-5.3

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-aws-hwe

46 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Nvidia-BlueField:24.04:LTS linux-bluefield

11 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.11

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-gcp

69 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.8

7 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-6.2

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle

31 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.4

26 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-5.17

26 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-6.2

13 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-6.0

16 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-fde-5.19

3 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gke

51 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-4.15

23 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.13

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-6.1

27 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS:20.04:LTS linux-fips

1 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS-updates:18.04:LTS linux-fips

26 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.19

8 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.8

5 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.4

20 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.19

8 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws-5.4

21 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-6.2

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.11

13 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-starfive-5.19

7 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS-updates:18.04:LTS linux-aws-fips

23 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.8

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.13

12 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-raspi-5.4

19 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure

44 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-5.3

16 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-starfive-6.2

3 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.11

13 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-fde

26 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gkeop-5.4

37 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp

38 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.3

9 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.19

11 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS linux-lts-xenial

138 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.4

21 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-6.2

7 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS:16.04:LTS linux-fips

71 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-bluefield

4 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-azure

77 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS linux-azure

54 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.8

4 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-oracle

45 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-5.4

20 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-hwe

43 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-aws

118 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS linux-hwe

92 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-5.19

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-allwinner-5.19

8 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-6.2

14 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-raspi

23 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-edge

4 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gkeop

10 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-realtime

1 explicit affected versions

Ubuntu:Pro:FIPS-updates:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-fips

1 explicit affected versions

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46990

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/64s: Fix crashes when toggling entry flush barrier The entry flush mitigation can be enabled/disabled at runtime via a debugfs file (entry_flush), which causes the kernel to patch itself to enable/disable the relevant mitigations. However depending on which mitigation we're using, it may not be safe to do that patching while other CPUs are active. For example the following crash: sleeper[15639]: segfault (11) at c000000000004c20 nip c000000000004c20 lr c000000000004c20 Shows that we returned to userspace with a corrupted LR that points into the kernel, due to executing the partially patched call to the fallback entry flush (ie. we missed the LR restore). Fix it by doing the patching under stop machine. The CPUs that aren't doing the patching will be spinning in the core of the stop machine logic. That is currently sufficient for our purposes, because none of the patching we do is to that code or anywhere in the vicinity.

View original source

05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence