5.5

CVE-2021-46972: ovl: fix leaked dentry

Analyzed
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2021-46972DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46972
Published 27-02-2024Last modified 11-05-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2021-46972 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16.3% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 5.5, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
5.5/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
0.25%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 2
RHSA-2024:4211RHSA-2024:4352

Timeline

  1. 27-02-2024
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 11-05-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ovl: fix leaked dentry Since commit 6815f479ca90 ("ovl: use only uppermetacopy state in ovl_lookup()"), overlayfs doesn't put temporary dentry when there is a metacopy error, which leads to dentry leaks when shutting down the related superblock: overlayfs: refusing to follow metacopy origin for (/file0) ... BUG: Dentry (____ptrval____){i=3f33,n=file3} still in use (1) [unmount of overlay overlay] ... WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 432 at umount_check.cold+0x107/0x14d CPU: 1 PID: 432 Comm: unmount-overlay Not tainted 5.12.0-rc5 #1 ... RIP: 0010:umount_check.cold+0x107/0x14d ... Call Trace: d_walk+0x28c/0x950 ? dentry_lru_isolate+0x2b0/0x2b0 ? __kasan_slab_free+0x12/0x20 do_one_tree+0x33/0x60 shrink_dcache_for_umount+0x78/0x1d0 generic_shutdown_super+0x70/0x440 kill_anon_super+0x3e/0x70 deactivate_locked_super+0xc4/0x160 deactivate_super+0xfa/0x140 cleanup_mnt+0x22e/0x370 __cleanup_mnt+0x1a/0x30 task_work_run+0x139/0x210 do_exit+0xb0c/0x2820 ? __kasan_check_read+0x1d/0x30 ? find_held_lock+0x35/0x160 ? lock_release+0x1b6/0x660 ? mm_update_next_owner+0xa20/0xa20 ? reacquire_held_locks+0x3f0/0x3f0 ? __sanitizer_cov_trace_const_cmp4+0x22/0x30 do_group_exit+0x135/0x380 __do_sys_exit_group.isra.0+0x20/0x20 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x3c/0x50 do_syscall_64+0x45/0x70 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae ... VFS: Busy inodes after unmount of overlay. Self-destruct in 5 seconds. Have a nice day... This fix has been tested with a syzkaller reproducer.

CVSS metrics

3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.25%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

16%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.25% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Ubuntu62 products
  • linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.13All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
  • linux≥ 6815f479ca90ee7fd2e28b2a420f796b974155fe, < 71d58457a8afc650da5d3292a7f7029317654d95 | ≥ 6815f479ca90ee7fd2e28b2a420f796b974155fe, < cf3e3330bc5719fa9d658e3e2f596bde89344a94 | ≥ 6815f479ca90ee7fd2e28b2a420f796b974155fe, < d587cfaef72b1b6f4b2774827123bce91f497cc8 | ≥ 6815f479ca90ee7fd2e28b2a420f796b974155fe, < eaab1d45cdb4bb0c846bd23c3d666d5b90af7b41 | 5.8
  • linux_kernel≥ 5.8, < 5.10.35 | ≥ 5.11, < 5.11.19 | ≥ 5.12, < 5.12.2
Debian1 product
  • linux< 5.10.38-1

3 vendors · 65 products

References

7 links